Systems and Methods for Administering an Extraction Rights Market in a Groundwater Basin

ABSTRACT

A water agency management platform provides an exchange for administering groundwater extraction rights in one or more trading-zones. The platform matches offers to trade utilization of groundwater extraction rights (GWRs), and intermediates transfers of the matched GWRs based one or more transfer rules.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to provisional application No.62/308,781 filed Mar. 15, 2016, entitled “Systems and Methods forSustainable Management of Renewable Water Resources”, which isincorporated by reference herein for all purposes.

This application also is related to co-pending application Ser. No.15/224,436, (Attorney Docket No, WFD-1601-US) filed Jul. 29, 2016,entitled “Systems and Methods for Imputing Groundwater Usage in aGroundwater Basin”, which is incorporated by reference herein for allpurposes.

Additionally, this application is related to co-pending application Ser.No. 15/224,448, (Attorney Docket No, WFD-1602-US) filed Jul. 29, 2016,entitled “Systems and Methods for Optimization of Groundwater ResourceUsage in a Groundwater Basin”, which is incorporated by reference hereinfor all purposes.

Lastly, this application is related to co-pending application Ser. No.______, (Attorney Docket No, WFD-1604-US) filed Jul. 29, 2016, entitled“A Water Agency Management Platform for Sustainably Managing WaterResources Including Groundwater Extraction Rights Within a WaterManagement Area”, which is incorporated by reference herein for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to systems and methods for responsiblesustainable management of renewable water resources, includinggroundwater.

Given the need to conserve water resources to sustain both increasinghuman consumption and agriculture indefinitely, when combined withunpredictability of climate conditions and a growing need for food,sustainable groundwater management has become a critical and essentialcomponent of a long term solution to the water resource management.

The management of water resources is often further complicated by acomplex mapping of jurisdictional boundaries corresponding to multiplesurface water management agencies that haphazardly cross over theboundaries of the naturally occurring groundwater basins, which commonlycontain one or more aquifers. In some geographical areas, intensivegroundwater pumping, often dramatically increasing during extendedperiods of drought, have resulted in the water table droppingsubstantially—sometimes causing permanent loss of aquifer capacity,which further exacerbates the critical urgency of attaining sustainablewater resource management. In some areas of California's central valley,surface subsidence due to aquifer collapse has been reported—nearly 2inches per month in some locations according to NASA.

Groundwater is essentially distributed by the aquifer, which often isaccessed on a patchwork basis due to the large cost of drilling wells.In contrast, surface water may be distributed using natural and manmadewater courses that may provide a much more uniform, widespread andmeasurable distribution of water. Private access to and depletion ofgroundwater goes largely unmeasured, unmetered and unregulated. Such aninequitable and unsustainable free-for-all situation is often referredto as “the tragedy of the commons”. Hence, delaying implementation ofcomprehensive water resource management is not an option, if long-termsustainability is to be accomplished.

A typical water agency has a specific geographic district over which ithas authority. The boundaries of an agency's district may correspond tothe boundaries of a surface water basin or can be more arbitrarily basedon political boundaries such as municipal, county, state, provincial orinternational borders. Water agencies seldom have boundaries fullyencompassing an underlying aquifer or aquifers. More often, multiplewater agencies overlie different portions of a single aquifer.Additionally, one or more water consumers within an agency's districtmay have water rights that are senior to or separate from the agency's.In many instances, a water agency combines pumped groundwater withsurface water supplies. Additionally, a water agency may have customersthat are pumping groundwater from private unmetered wells and using itin conjunction with water supplied from the water agency. In addition towater consumers—agricultural and municipal—a groundwater basin may havemany additional stakeholders such as, politicians, government officials,lobbyists, community organizations, scientists, water brokers, and rightof way holders. All of these complexities make coherent sustainablemanagement of a groundwater basin extremely difficult.

Consequently, in order to effectively sustainably manage a groundwaterbasin, either a single agency needs to have authority over the entirebasin; or multiple agencies overlying parts of that basin need tocooperate to provide coordinated management that in combination resultsin combined authority over the entire basin. Problematically, manybasins have private (and often unmetered) groundwater users with senioror otherwise independent water rights. Perhaps the most direct solutionto such a “Gordian Knot” problem is legislation that modifies andsubsumes such prior private rights under the authority of a water agency(or cooperating water agencies) with the mandate to locate, monitor,measure, charge fees for, and/or otherwise regulate and limit privateextraction of groundwater. But such a legal mandate is not sufficient.Outreach to and cooperation from stakeholders is also needed—a very highhurdle for a new agency.

Regardless of the solution—multiple agencies operating independently butcooperatively, multiple agencies cooperating in concert as a virtualbasin-wide agency, or a single basin-wide agency replacing multipleagencies—a system for operating a single basin-wide managementcapability is necessary. Nowadays, complex combinations of computerizeddatabase systems have become the functional heart of most businessesincluding water agencies. Such systems—typically commerciallysourced—are often highly proprietary and difficult to interoperate withcompetitive commercial solutions. Replacing multiple such complexcomputerized systems with an equally capable replacement computerizedsystem may be nightmarishly difficult—witness the bring-up of theFederal “Obamacare” Health Care Insurance Exchange.

It is therefore apparent that an urgent need exists for a sustainablewater agency management platform (WAMP). This improved WAMP must enableprimary stakeholders—property manager(s) (e.g., farmers) and wateragency sustainability manager(s)—to cooperatively, efficiently andcost-effectively manage the consumption of groundwater resources in asustainable manner over a long term. Additionally, a WAMP must make itpractical for multiple agencies combined or working cooperatively withina groundwater basin to operate utilizing a single common WAMP thatprovides a practical upgrade path from legacy operations systems. Such aWAMP must replace or integrate the capabilities of legacy operationssystems, but also provide essential new capabilities such as regulatingunmetered groundwater extraction.

SUMMARY

To achieve the foregoing and in accordance with the present invention,systems and methods for sustainable management of renewable waterresources is provided. In particular, these systems and methodsresponsibly manage groundwater resources in a sustainable manner so asto ensure the long term health of aquifers.

In one embodiment, a water agency management platform (WAMP) provides anelectronic exchange market for administering groundwater extractionrights and managing groundwater and surface-water resources in one ormore trading-zones. The WAMP receive a plurality of offers to tradeutilization of a groundwater extraction right (GWR), matches at leasttwo of the plurality of offers, and intermediates the transfer of theGWR based on at least one transfer rule.

In some embodiments, transfer rules limits GWR transfers from a specificgroundwater extraction zone to a specific destination water consumptionzone, limits GWR transfers from a specific source zone regardless of thedestination zone, and limits GWR transfers to a specific destinationzone regardless of the source zone.

Note that the various features of the present invention described abovemay be practiced alone or in combination. These and other features ofthe present invention will be described in more detail below in thedetailed description of the invention and in conjunction with thefollowing figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order that the present invention may be more clearly ascertained,some embodiments will now be described, by way of example, withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary operating environment for one embodimentof a Water Agency Management Platform (WAMP), in accordance with thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram further illustrating the WAMP ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Login display page for the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience wherein a generic WAMP display page layout isdepicted for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Goto display page for the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C are portions of an exemplary screen imageillustrating the sustainability manager experience of a WAMP Water Useby Members display page for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Water Use by Crops display page for the embodimentof FIG. 1;

FIGS. 8A and 8B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Water Use by APNs (Assessor Parcel Numbers) displaypage for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Water Use by Property Groups display page for theembodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP property group associating subpage for theembodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 11A and 11B are two views of an exemplary screen imageillustrating the sustainability manager experience of a WAMP Water Useby Wells display page for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 12 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Water Use by Turnouts display page for theembodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 13A and 13B are two views of an exemplary screen imageillustrating the sustainability manager experience of a WAMP Import Datadisplay page for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 14 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Advanced Reports display page for theembodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 15 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Reports display page for generation and/orscheduled publishing from lists of reports for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 16 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Member Search display page for theembodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 17A and 17B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Member Contact display page for the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 18 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Overview display page for the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 19 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the property managerexperience of a WAMP Market Platform display page for the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIGS. 20A and 20B are two views of an exemplary screen imageillustrating the sustainability manager experience of a WAMP Lease Orderdisplay page for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 21 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Transfer Zone Management display page forthe embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 22A and 22B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Registry Overview display page for the embodimentof FIG. 1;

FIGS. 23A and 23B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP groundwater rights (GWR) List display for theembodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 24 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Members GWR display page for the embodimentof FIG. 1;

FIG. 25 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Virtual Meter display subpage for theembodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 26A, 26B and 26C are portions of an exemplary screen imageillustrating the sustainability manager experience of a WAMP GWR displaypage for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 27 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Add CRM Comment display subpage for theembodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 28A and 28B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Interests display page for the embodiment of FIG.1;

FIGS. 29A and 29B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Registry Action display page for the embodiment ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 30 is an exemplary screen image illustrating the sustainabilitymanager experience of a WAMP Registry Documents Repository display pagefor the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 31A and 31B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Dashboard display page for the embodiment of FIG.1;

FIGS. 32A and 32B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Invoices display page for the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 33A and 33B are upper and lower portions (respectively) of anexemplary screen image illustrating the sustainability managerexperience of a WAMP Local Weather display page for the embodiment ofFIG. 1; and

FIG. 34 is a Logic Flow Diagram illustrating an embodiment of a shareddata access control engine for the embodiment of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention will now be described in detail with reference toseveral embodiments thereof as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the presentinvention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art, thatembodiments may be practiced without some or all of these specificdetails. In other instances, well known process steps and/or structureshave not been described in detail in order to not unnecessarily obscurethe present invention. The features and advantages of embodiments may bebetter understood with reference to the drawings and discussions thatfollow.

Aspects, features and advantages of exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention will become better understood with regard to the followingdescription in connection with the accompanying drawing(s). It should beapparent to those skilled in the art that the described embodiments ofthe present invention provided herein are illustrative only and notlimiting, having been presented by way of example only. All featuresdisclosed in this description may be replaced by alternative featuresserving the same or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise.Therefore, numerous other embodiments of the modifications thereof arecontemplated as falling within the scope of the present invention asdefined herein and equivalents thereto. Hence, use of absolute and/orsequential terms, such as, for example, “always,” “will,” “will not,”“shall,” “shall not,” “must,” “must not,” “first,” “initially,” “next,”“subsequently,” “before,” “after,” “lastly,” and “finally,” are notmeant to limit the scope of the present invention as the embodimentsdisclosed herein are merely exemplary.

Embodiments of the present invention are intended to operate with allmanner of consumer electronic network terminal devices including smartphones, computers, tablet computer systems, e-reader devices, andvirtually any electronic device which includes WAN access and a userinterface. These embodiments are also capable of operating with a widerange of interface types, including any combination of a visual display,tactile and audio output and a visual, tactile or acoustic userinterface.

To facilitate discussion, FIGS. 1 through 34 illustrate the operation ofa Water Agency Management Platform (WAMP) 150 in accordance with oneembodiment of the present invention.

In some embodiments a WAMP 150 may facilitate the operation of a wateragency and may facilitate such a water agency's regulatory complianceand implementation of a water resource regulatory body pursuant tocorresponding regulation, compacts and law, such as a SustainableGroundwater Management Act. The State of California for instance haslegislated such a Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.

The Groundwater Foundation defines ‘groundwater’ (alternatively spelled‘ground water’) as “the water found underground in the cracks and spacesin soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and moves slowly throughgeologic formations of soil, sand and rocks called aquifers.” The UnitedStates Geological Survey (USGS) website says “Groundwater is a valuableresource both in the United States and throughout the world. Wheresurface water, such as lakes and rivers, are scarce or inaccessible,groundwater supplies many of the hydrologic needs of people everywhere.In the United States, it is the source of drinking water for about halfthe total population and nearly all of the rural population, and itprovides over 50 billion gallons per day for agricultural needs.” Itcontinues by defining and describing ‘ground water depletion’:“Groundwater depletion, a term often defined as long-term water-leveldeclines caused by sustained groundwater pumping, is a key issueassociated with groundwater use. Many areas of the United States areexperiencing groundwater depletion.”

The Mojave Water Agency located in San Bernardino County Californiastates on its website: “A groundwater basin is defined as an areaunderlain by permeable materials capable of furnishing a significantsupply of groundwater to wells or storing a significant amount of water.A groundwater basin is three-dimensional and includes both the surfaceextent and all of the subsurface fresh water yielding material. For moreinformation on groundwater basins and subbasins, please visit theCalifornia Department of Water Resources Bulletin 118 website.”Furthermore, the California State Department of Water Resources Bulletin118—California's Groundwater (Update 2003) Chapter 6 states: “Agroundwater basin is defined as an alluvial aquifer or a stacked seriesof alluvial aquifers with reasonably well-defined boundaries in alateral direction and a definable bottom. Lateral boundaries arefeatures that significantly impede groundwater flow such as rock orsediments with very low permeability or a geologic structure such as afault. Bottom boundaries would include rock or sediments of very lowpermeability if no aquifers occur below those sediments within thebasin. In some cases, such as in the San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys,the base of fresh water is considered the bottom of the groundwaterbasin.”

In contrast to groundwater, surface water is defined by the web-siteversion of Duhaime's Legal Dictionary as: “Waters falling on the land byprecipitation or rising from springs.” For the purposes of thediscussion that follows, surface water may be further understood to be:precipitated water or spring water that is directly open to theatmosphere or is conveyed from such a water source that is directly opento the atmosphere (e.g., water from a reservoir conveyed in an aqueductpipe).

In the USGS Circular 1186 dated 1999 and titled “Sustainability ofGroundwater Resources”, ‘groundwater sustainability’ is defined as“development and use of groundwater in a manner that can be maintainedfor an indefinite time without causing unacceptable environmental,economic, or social consequences.” Such unacceptable consequencesclearly include groundwater depletion and aquifer collapse.

The California Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, according toUniversity of California Davis: “consists of three legislative bills,Senate Bill SB 1168 (Pavley), Assembly Bill AB 1739 (Dickinson), andSenate Bill SB 1319 (Pavley). The legislation provides a framework forlong-term sustainable groundwater management across California. Underthe roadmap laid out by the legislation, local and regional authoritiesin medium and high priority groundwater basins will form GroundwaterSustainability Agencies (GSAs) that oversee the preparation andimplementation of a local Groundwater Sustainability Plan (GSP). Localstakeholders have until 2017 to organize themselves in GroundwaterSustainability Agencies. Groundwater Sustainability Plans will have tobe in place and implementation begun sometime between 2020 and 2022.GSAs will have until 2040 to achieve groundwater sustainability.”Furthermore the State of California groundwater website states: “InSeptember 2015, Governor Brown signed SB13, by Senator Fran Pavley. TheBill makes various technical, clarifying changes to SGMA includingrequirements for groundwater sustainability agency formation, theprocess for State Water Board intervention if no responsible agency isspecified for a basin, guidelines for high- and medium-priority basins,and participation of mutual water companies in a groundwatersustainability agency.”

Further describing the role of GSAs under California's SGMA, theAssociation of California Water Agencies website states: “The actrequires the formation of local groundwater sustainability agencies(GSAs) that must assess conditions in their local water basins and adoptlocally-based management plans.” The University of California Berkeleywebsite says: “A successful path to groundwater sustainability willrequire governance that is both fair and effective. GSAs will need tocarefully consider the criteria shown here in their institutionaldesign, each of which is necessary to achieve both fairness and efficacyin groundwater management.” Additionally it proposes nine criteria toevaluate newly forming GSAs: “scale, human capacity, funding, authority,independence, participation, representation, accountability, andtransparency.”

For the purposes of the discussion that follows, the term ‘groundwatermanagement agency’ (GMA) may connote: an agency that may include but notnecessarily be limited to the functions and responsibilities of agroundwater sustainability agency as defined by a given SustainableGroundwater Management Act or equivalent legal mandate.

For the purposes of the definition of GMA above and of the discussionthat follows, the term SGMA′ may connote: a Sustainable GroundwaterManagement Act or other legislation, regulation, legal finding, compactor other legal basis that may mandate or otherwise legally authorize andprovide jurisdiction to a GSA or GSAs relative to groundwatersustainability.

The CA.gov website defines a number of terms used in California's SGMAincluding ‘sustainable yield’, which is defined as: “The maximumquantity of water, calculated over a base period representative oflong-term conditions in the basin and including any temporary surplus,that can be withdrawn annually from a groundwater supply without causingan undesirable result.” Where ‘undesirable result’ is defined: “One ormore of the following effects caused by groundwater conditions occurringthroughout the basin:

-   -   1. Chronic lowering of groundwater levels indicating a        significant and unreasonable depletion of supply if continued        over the planning and implementation horizon. Overdraft during a        period of drought is not sufficient to establish a chronic        lowering of groundwater levels if extractions and recharge are        managed as necessary to ensure that reductions in groundwater        levels or storage during a period of drought are offset by        increases in groundwater levels or storage during other periods.    -   2. Significant and unreasonable reduction of groundwater        storage.    -   3. Significant and unreasonable seawater intrusion.    -   4. Significant and unreasonable degraded water quality,        including the migration of contaminant plumes that impair water        supplies.    -   5. Significant and unreasonable land subsidence that        substantially interferes with surface land uses.    -   6. Depletions of interconnected surface water that have        significant and unreasonable adverse impacts on beneficial uses        of the surface water.”

In contrast to a GMA, a surface water agency may be concerned with themanagement of surface water supplies including the accumulation,conservation, distribution of such surface water. So, per the LouisianaDepartment of Water Resources website, a surface water management agencymay: “coordinate the management, preservation, conservation andprotection of the state's water resources and has given authority forthe agency to enter into cooperative agreements with water users for thewithdrawal of surface water from the state's water bodies”. So as anexample of a surface water management agency in California's southerncentral valley: “In 1909, the South San Joaquin Irrigation District wasestablished to provide a reliable and economical source of irrigationwater for agricultural use in, and surrounding rural areas of Escalon,Manteca and Ripon. SSJID's historic water rights allow for severalhydroelectric power plants on a series of dams and reservoirs on theStanislaus River. SSJID and Oakdale Irrigation District completed theoriginal Melones Reservoir in 1926, and have co-owned the Tri-DamProject, consisting of Donnells, Beardsley and Tulloch reservoirs andpowerhouses since 1957.” And as a further example of a surface watermanagement agency, in northern California, the San Francisco PublicUtilities Commission: “We manage a complex water supply systemstretching from the Sierra to the City and featuring a complex series ofreservoirs, tunnels, pipelines, and treatment systems. We are the thirdlargest municipal utility in California, serving 2.6 millionresidential, commercial, and industrial customers in the Bay Area.Approximately one-third of our delivered water goes to retail customersin San Francisco, while wholesale deliveries to 26 suburban agencies inAlameda, Santa Clara, and San Mateo counties comprise the othertwo-thirds.” Additionally, in contrast to groundwater, surface water iscommonly delivered to surface water customers—particularlyirrigators—through a known connection to the distribution systemcommonly termed a ‘turnout’.

As a practical matter, in order to sustainably manage a groundwaterbasin, nearly all groundwater extraction (as well as injection) needs tobe regulated. Unfortunately, most existing water agencies are surfacewater agencies rather than GMAs. Additionally, the jurisdictions of mostwater agencies correspond to surface boundaries rather than theunderlying groundwater basin boundaries. In fact many water agencieshave boundaries that are politically rather than physicallydetermined—e.g., confined within a politically defined area such as astate, county or city. Therefore, in many instances a given groundwaterbasin is overlain by a quiltwork of two or more existing water agencies.

One solution to overcome such fragmented management of a groundwaterbasin is to consolidate all the water agencies overlying that basin intoa single GMA that supersedes such consolidated water agencies. Forexample, the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, a water agency incoastal central California is described: “The purpose of the Agency hasremained essentially unchanged since its creation in 1984. In 1980, theState Department of Water Resources issued Bulletin 118-80, whichidentified 447 separate groundwater basins, sub-basins and areas ofpotential groundwater storage throughout the State. More importantly,the Bulletin identified the Pajaro Valley basin as one of just elevenbasins with critical conditions of overdraft. Community leaders in thearea recognized that local management of the basin was needed to haltseawater intrusion, which was impacting the groundwater supply for largeareas of coastal farmland as well as domestic water supply wells. Theyalso recognized that no single agency had the jurisdictional authorityto manage the entire groundwater basin which overlaps four majorjurisdictions: the City of Watsonville, and Santa Cruz, Monterey and SanBenito counties. The Agency's boundaries were drawn as closely aspossible to match the same basin boundaries described in Bulletin118-80. See Agency Boundary Map. An ad hoc group of local stakeholdersformed and began meeting weekly over a period of several months todevelop the new agency's goals and draft the state legislation necessaryto form a new water management entity. State Senator Henry Mellospearheaded the required legislation in Sacramento. A local ballotmeasure to establish the Agency was approved by the local voters in theNovember 1984 election, which officially established the PVWMA as a newstate-chartered water management agency.”

Such voluntary combining of water agencies into a single newconsolidating and superseding water agency is an extremely difficulttask due to the many competing interests of numerous stakeholders.Thirty years ago agencies such as the Pajaro Valley Water ManagementAgency were managed primarily with manual paper-based file systemsaugmented with some computerization. In the 21^(st) century, complexcombinations of networked database systems have become essential to theoperation of most organizations including water agencies. Replacingmultiple such complex computerized systems with a equally capablereplacement computerized system may be a hugely daunting task.Additionally, increasingly severe political polarization—often pittingurban areas against rural constituencies—has made the sort of politicalcompromise needed to charter new consolidated water agencies such asPajaro Valley Water Management Agency nearly impossible. Clearly,another solution other than consolidation is needed.

An alternative approach to consolidation into a single basin-wide GMA isfor a plurality of water management agencies (with jurisdictions thatwhen considered together encompass an entire groundwater basin) tooperate cooperatively so as to virtually synthesize key elements of theoperation of a single consolidated basin-wide agency, but with fewertechnical and political hurdles. For the purposes of the discussion thatfollows, such a cooperative basin-wide virtual agency may be referred toas a ‘virtual groundwater management agency’ (VGMA).

As opposed to a consolidation into a single basin-wide water agency, aVGMA may facilitate but not supercede or preempt multiple water agenciescooperating within a shared groundwater basin. A VGMA may facilitatesuch GMAs to cooperatively manage that basin's water resources andfurther may facilitate each of the cooperating GMAs to meet theirrespective sustainability reporting obligations under the governingSGMA. Furthermore, such reporting obligations may rest exclusively uponthe individual cooperating GMAs and not the VGMA. A VGMA may not replaceor explicitly limit or assume the governance powers or obligations ofeach individual GMA.

For the purposes of this discussion, the term ‘district’ may refer to: aspecific geographic territory over which a given GMA may have authority,and that may include one or more water consumers under the jurisdictionof that GMA. Such water consumers may include groundwater extractors whodirectly consume such extracted groundwater or provide it to others toconsume. Further, for the purposes of this discussion the terms ‘member’or ‘members’ may refer to: property owners (as well as legal assigneesand interest holders) under the jurisdiction of a given GMA. One or moresuch members within a GMA's district may be property owners withhistorical, deeded, optioned, leased, purchased or otherwise granted,awarded, claimed or otherwise acquired groundwater rights (GWRs). Beinga member of a given GMA may be voluntary or mandated or a mix of both. Amember may for example be a natural person or a legal entity such as acorporation, LLC, holding company or trust. A GMA may maintaininformation (e.g., owner(s), address, assessor's parcel number, size,etc.) pertaining to a given property within the GMA's district—i.e., a‘property account’. A GMA member may own (or otherwise control interestsin) more than one properties in the GMA's district and therefore beassociated with more than one property account.

In some embodiments, a VGMA may be thought of as a type of a GMAcomposed of participating constituent water agencies. For the purposesof the discussion that follows, when the term ‘GMA’ is used, it may beassumed unless stated otherwise that the discussion applies equivalentlyto a VGMA. Furthermore, the term ‘GMA’ may be assumed to applyequivalently to a surface water management agency (unless statedotherwise) should such a surface water management agency manage orutilize groundwater resources or anticipate doing so.

Additionally, for the purposes of the discussion that follows, thecombined districts of the constituent water agencies of a given VGMAcomprise the ‘district’ of that VGMA although such VGMA district may bevirtual. Furthermore, the members of such constituent water agencies ofa given VGMA may be termed ‘VGMA members’ (or similar) although suchmembership in the VGMA may be virtual. And unless stated otherwise, alldiscussions applying to a GMA's district and/or member(s) of GMA mayapply equivalently to the district and/or member(s) of a VGMA.Furthermore, unless stated otherwise, all discussions applying to usersof GMA's WAMP 150 may apply equivalently to users of a VGMA's WAMP 150.

For the purposes of the discussion that follows, the terms‘sustainability manager’ or ‘sustainability managers’ may refer to:employee(s), contractor(s) and other worker(s) for a given GMA who mayutilize the WAMP 150 to manage the resources of the GMA. Furthermore,for the purposes of the discussion that follows, the terms ‘propertymanager’ and ‘property managers’ may refer to: GMA member user(s) of theWAMP 150. For example, a property manager may be a property owner withinthe GMA district or may be an individual or commercial entity that worksfor such a property owner. In some instances, such an individual orcommercial entity may be a property manager for more than one propertywithin the GMA district.

A WAMP 150 may facilitate the operation of a GMA and facilitate theGMA's regulatory compliance and implementation of governmental andindustry standards—such as the Californian, Sustainable GroundwaterManagement Act (SGMA). A given GMA's sustainability manager(s) mayutilize a WAMP 150 to innovatively and reliably service properties andproperty managers within their district(s) including providingreasonable controls necessary for the GMA to manage their groundwatersustaining service and the system that provides that service. Inaddition to facilitating GMA sustainability managers to ensure thesustainable management of groundwater, a WAMP 150 may be utilized byproperty managers to manage their groundwater production and consumptionand to monitor the overall state of the groundwater basin they drawfrom.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate multiple GMAs withauthority or commercial interests within a given basin to cooperativelyand cost-effectively manage—to their mutual benefit—the groundwatersustainability of that basin and operate as a seemingly singleintegrated commercial entity while maintaining and protecting theirseparate commercial interests and carrying out their respectiveresponsibilities. A WAMP 150 may for example facilitate a VGMA toconfigure and utilize common forms, letterhead, water utilization feeand regulatory policies, and regulatory agency(s) interface.Additionally, a WAMP 150 may facilitate generating reports that takentogether may provide a comprehensive overview of the water usage andtransfers within the VGMA's basin.

A VGMA may be facilitated by a WAMP 150 in some embodiments so as toassist two or more GMAs (or other water management agencies) within abasin district cooperatively manage their respective jurisdictions,protect the privacy of individual members within an individual GMA'sspecific district while enabling de-identified aggregated data to bereported to and utilized by the VGMA to assist the cooperating GMAs toadminister the basin on a coordinated basis. In turn, such dataaggregation by a WAMP 150 may support the VGMA to create and providereports to, for example, a supervisory government authority infulfillment of the requirements of a SGMA. Additionally, such reportingutilizing aggregated basin-wide data may in turn help the constituentGMAs make decisions about the management of groundwater resources withintheir basin segments and assist each GMA with auditing and regulatoryreporting requirements.

A WAMP 150 may facilitate the constituent GMAs of a VGMA to maintaintheir relationships with their members while complying and contributingto the implementation of their region's groundwater sustainablemanagement regulations by cooperating as a VGMA. In some embodiments,for a groundwater basin within a given VGMA's district and jurisdiction,a WAMP 150 may:

-   -   provide exclusive and relatively coherent regulatory mandated        administration of the basin's groundwater resources,    -   organize and service members of the participating agencies as        members of the VGMA,    -   provide a single uniform source of basin-wide accounting and        reporting.

In order for a VGMA to function effectively (e.g., not injure theinterests of the participating agencies) and yet sustainably manageshared groundwater resources, a VGMA-facilitating WAMP 150 in someembodiments may segment and group the authorities, functionalities andresponsibilities (i.e., “powers”) of each of the thusly participatingagencies so as to group subset(s) of such powers that may be essentialto groundwater sustainability while keeping segregated subset(s) ofother powers that may be non-essential to groundwater sustainability(but may be of critical proprietary interest to each of the individualparticipating agencies within the VGMA). In some embodiments of a WAMP150, such aggregated subset(s) and segregated subset(s) may beconfigurable such that the composition of such subsets may vary fromVGMA to VGMA depending, for example, on the degree of cooperation orcompetition between the participating agencies within a given VGMA.

In many areas, GMAs (let alone VGMAs) don't yet exist and surface watermanagement agencies seem a natural fit to be adapted to the role of GMAor VGMA constituent because they have existing:

-   -   Trained staff,    -   Political and community connections,    -   Long term relationships with property owners and managers,    -   Property account data including water use history,    -   Distribution systems to move water between sellers and        buyers—including between basins,    -   Revenue flows and access to capital,    -   Relationships with neighboring agencies,    -   Extensive surface water utilization data (very useful in        instances where a property uses both surface water and        groundwater), and    -   Deep institutional and historical knowledge of drainage and        basin conditions.

Also, in some instances existing surface water agencies may already beextracting groundwater and combining it with surface water supplies. Ora surface water agency may have customers that are pumping groundwaterfrom private wells and using it in conjunction with water supplied fromthe surface water management agency. Clearly, a surface water managementagency is a natural stakeholder in any groundwater basin that is drawnon by that agency or by its customers.

In some instances, a GMA may be a standalone entity whose governancestructure consists of representatives from water agencies, localgovernment and water users. The day to day activities of the GMA may besub-contracted to existing water agencies or other third parties.

Unfortunately GMAs (as well as water management agencies in general) mayhave financial and commercial disincentives to share data orrelationships—particularly when they overlap in watersheds and orgroundwater basins. However, a WAMP 150 may facilitate creation of aVGMA combining, but appropriately firewalling data from multiple watermanagement agencies cooperating as a seemingly single VGMA.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may include facilities specific to themanagement of surface water resources. This for instance may allow asurface water agency to transform to a GMA (either immediately, or in aphased process, or sometime in the future) and manage both surface waterand groundwater in an integrated fashion. Although a WAMP 150 may beutilized by a GMA to facilitate its operations, in some embodiments, aWAMP 150 may be configured to be utilized by a surface water managementagency to facilitate its operations with or without configuringfacilities for groundwater management. Such an adopting surface watermanagement agency may thusly benefit from the state-of-the-artintegrated water management facilities of a WAMP 150 and additionallybenefit from a built-in WAMP 150 configurable path to groundwatermanagement—perhaps as a GMA and/or as a constituent water managementagency in a VGMA.

The two principal stakeholders of a given GMA—the GMA itself and themembers—may be the primary users of a WAMP 150 utilized by the GMA. Inaddition to a given GMA's principal stakeholders, i.e., the GMA itselfand the members of that GMA, a given GMA may have various additionaldirect or indirect stakeholders within the district. Such in-districtGMA stakeholders may include, but not be limited to:

-   -   Surface water rights holders,    -   Surface water management agencies,    -   Non-agricultural water consumers and their water agencies,    -   Groundwater recharge area property owners,    -   Local politicians and/or government officials, and    -   Sovereign entities such as Native American reservations.

In addition to sustainability managers and property managers, other GMAstakeholders (some out of district) may be users of a GMA's WAMP 150.For example, water brokers might utilize services of the WAMP 150 onbehalf of water consumers and possibly investors.

FIG. 1 provides a structural block diagram for an example of a WaterAgency Management Platform (WAMP) 150 operating environment inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments a WAMP 150 may be a multi-layered secure cloud basedsoftware solution that may facilitate the operation of a groundwatermanagement agency (GMA), and may furthermore facilitate regulatorycompliance and implementation of a water resource regulatory bodypursuant to corresponding regulation, compacts and law, such as aSustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Such a WAMP 150 may beaccessed from any location—critical for example in the irrigationindustry where the system needs to be accessed by a property manager atwork out in the field—perhaps out in a feed lot or an almond orchard.

A WAMP 150 may be accessed using a mobile communication device or anyother electronic network terminal device with a user interface. Forbrevity, an electronic network terminal device may be referred to as a‘terminal’, which can either be a dedicated purpose-built device or asuitable general purpose device. FIG. 1 represents a variety of suchpotential terminals—110 to 119 for sustainability managers, and 190 to199 for property managers.

Sustainability manager terminal choices, 110 through 119, represent themultiplicity of devices that may support access to WAMP 150. Often suchterminals are mobile communication devices—i.e., devices that can becarried easily from place to place by the sustainabilitymanager—typically with Wi-Fi or cellular data or other wirelessconnectivity and in numerous instances with built-in mobile telephonecapability. However, less portable or fixed installation terminals mayalso support access to the WAMP 150.

Property manager terminal choices, 190 through 199, mirror the choicesavailable to a sustainability manager. They differ specifically in therole of the WAMP 150 user, i.e., property manager rather thansustainability manager, and the specific device chosen by eachindividual user.

In some embodiments, a user's access to a WAMP 150 may not be bound to aspecific terminal device. So for example, during the day, asustainability manager may utilize a laptop 112 at their desk, while aproperty manager may utilize a smart phone 190 out in a farm field.Further by example, in the evening, a sustainability manager may utilizea home PC 119, while a property manager gets caught up on work from homeutilizing a tablet computer 191.

When describing use of the WAMP 150 that is equivalent whether by asustainability manager or a property manager, the term ‘User’ may beused in the discussion that follows to mean either of these two types ofusers.

At the level of network connectivity, a sustainability manager'sterminal and a property manager's terminal may operate in equivalentways, therefore for simplicity: the terms ‘User's device’ or ‘User'sterminal’ may be used in the discussion that follows when operation of aWAMP 150 feature applies in the same or similar fashion to either asustainability manager's terminal or a property manager's terminal.

Inter-communication between a User's terminal device and the WAMP 150may use a wide area network (WAN) 140 such as the Internet.Communication between a User and the WAMP 150 may involve traversingmore than one WAN (not shown). In some embodiments, WAMP-facilitatedcommunication between a sustainability manager and a property managermay also involve a WAN or WANs such as the PSTN and/or the Internet.Depending on the embodiment, the WAMP 150 may use one or several modelsof connectivity including, but not limited to: client/server andpeer-to-peer. In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may utilize aclient-server system model where the client may execute on the User'sdevice—perhaps as a web app or a native app. Client/server connectivitymay use a WAN 140 such as the Internet for access between the User'sterminal device and a WAMP Server 155. Peer-to-peer connectivity, suchas a WAMP-facilitated telephone call or a text message interactionbetween a sustainability manager and a property manager, may typicallyalso use a WAN 140 such as the PSTN or the Internet.

In some embodiments, services of a WAMP 150 may be utilized viatelephony—for example, using keypad menuing and/or automated naturallanguage recognition as is easily apparent to one skilled in the art. Insome embodiments, a live or automated operator (e.g., a chat bot) mayprovide WAMP service assistance or proxying. Furthermore, in someinstances, a User's terminal device that is dedicated to providing dataaccess, e.g., a desktop computer, 119/199, may be augmented fortelephone communication by a separate telephony device (not shown)and/or third party telephony software (not shown) running on theterminal device. Such separate telephony devices may include, but not belimited to: a mobile cellular phone or a landline telephone, or aheadset paired with third party telephony software running on theterminal device, e.g., Skype.

In some embodiments, communication between a sustainability manager anda property manager may be intermediated by a WAMP 150. In suchintermediation—sometimes referred to as ‘proxying’—a WAMP 150 maysource, receive, reroute, multicast, broadcast or otherwise initiate orrespond to and/or terminate communication: from a sustainability manager(or on a sustainability manager's behalf) intended for a propertymanager, and/or; from a property manager (or on a property manager'sbehalf) intended for a sustainability manager. In addition, a WAMP 150,may translate, clarify, expand, simplify, repeat, and/or generallymodify or enhance the content communicated between Users in such a wayas to improve or enhance comprehension or to increase the likelihood ofsuccessful completion of the communication. Such intermediation servicesmay have varying mixes of automation and/or direct human participationdepending on the embodiment.

Additionally, a WAMP 150 may translate, clarify, expand, simplify andotherwise modify or enhance what is communicated. At a signal contentlevel, a WAMP 150 may amplify, filter, encode, decode, transcode,compress, expand, error correct and generally process the signalcorresponding to the communication in ways well understood to one wellversed in the art.

In some embodiments, data communication may be intermediated by a WAMP150 in such a way that logical network addresses—e.g., web site URLs andemail addresses—nominally routed directly to a User are actually routedto and/or sourced from and/or redirected by a WAMP 150. For example, theWAMP 150 may provide additional services to a GMA or on a GMA's behalfincluding, but not limited to: Web site, email, blog, on-lineforum/social network posts, electronic newsletters, and pushnotifications to GMA members.

In some embodiments, text messaging communication may be intermediatedby the WAMP 150 in such a way that logical texting addresses—e.g.,Universal Resource Identifiers—nominally routed directly to a User areactually routed to and/or sourced by and/or redirected by and/ortranslated by the WAMP 150. For example, the WAMP 150 may provideadditional services to a sustainability manager or on a sustainabilitymanager's behalf including, but not limited to: text-email translation,text-voice translation, system-to-system gateway (e.g., between SMS andIM) and push text messaging notifications to members.

The services of the WAMP 150 may be provided by a WAMP Server 155, whichmay utilize one or more WAMP Database(s) 158 containing informationregarding GMA members (and perhaps other users) who may utilize the WAMP150. The primary users of a WAMP 150 may be sustainability managers andproperty managers. In some embodiments, WAMP data may be encryptedand/or physically secured in data centers complying with standards suchas: FISMA, SSAE16 Type II and PCI DSS 2.0 standards.

Property-descriptive and member-descriptive data may be entered into theWAMP Database(s) 158 automatically by importing from one of more sourcesincluding: a legacy operations system, or manually by GMA staff, or insome instances voluntarily by property managers themselves. In someembodiments, this data may be augmented with data from third parties,which may be copied or simply utilized on a one-time basis. Suchdescriptive data for a given property, member or property manager may bereferred to as a ‘profile’ or for multiple members/properties or inaggregate—‘profiles’. Profiles may be stored in WAMP Database(s) 158 andmay be organized, portioned, sorted, encrypted, firewalled,access-restricted, backed-up, transaction logged and otherwise managed,maintained and protected using techniques familiar to one skilled in theart.

The WAMP Database(s) 158 used by the WAMP 150 may be centralized ordistributed. Generally, the WAMP Database(s) 158 utilized by a WAMP 150may be remote from the User's terminal; however in some embodiments,portions of database(s) utilized by a WAMP 150 may reside on the User'selectronic terminal device (not shown). For example, web browser cookiesmay be stored on a User's device. In some embodiments, the WAMP 150 maybe coupled to one or more External Database(s) 170 via WAN 140.

In some embodiments, External Database(s) 170 may be queried by WAMP 150to extract useful information. Such External Database(s) 170 may belongto various different government and private entities and may bedistributed globally, and may for example include news sources such asWeather Channel, CNN, CBS & PBS and/or Federal and State governmentalagencies such as FEMA. A given External Database 170 may containpublically available government data, such as NOAA climate data and GOESsatellite images, or may contain MDA Information Systems EarthSAT imagesor other data available on a commercial basis. In some instances, a WAMP150 may import data from a given External Database 170 such as a countygovernment tax assessor's property roll. In some instances, a WAMP 150may export data to a given External Database 170—for example providing agiven GMA's basin-specific water sustainability reporting to an SGMAmandated regulatory authority.

A number of third party organizations, such as USGS, NOAA, Army Corp ofEngineers, US Bureau of Reclamation as well as regional waterauthorities and universities maintain large databases containing waterresource data, satellite terrestrial surface and subsurface imagesand/or climate and weather data—observed and/or modeled. The WAMP 150may import and utilize data from such third party External Database(s)170. Hence, a given GMA may have access to a very rich datasetdistributed across a virtual aggregate database or virtual compositedatabase comprised of WAMP Database(s) 158 plus data accessed and/oracquired from third party's External Database(s) 170. For simplicity inthe following discussion, when referring to representative WAMPDatabase(s) 158, such a larger virtual aggregate or composite databaseincluding External Database(s) 170 may be taken to be referenced aswell—as is apparent to one skilled in the art.

In some embodiments, Sensor(s) 130 may provide data to a WAMP 150.Sensor(s) 130 data such as well bore water level measurements or wellwater meter readings that may for example be utilized to quantifygroundwater extraction. In some embodiments, Sensor(s) 130 may includemeteorological instruments and weather equipment, such as barometers,humidity detectors, precipitation gauges, anemometers, thermometers andsolar cells. Sensor(s) 130 may also include test wells located withinaquifer(s) to monitor aquifer characteristics including current leveland rate of water table change. In some instances, Sensor(s) 130 may beof many functional types distributed on a wide geographic basis within aGMA's jurisdiction. Wireless communication may provide a typical meansfor communications with Sensor(s) 130, but other means such as wiredconnectivity may be utilized as well. Most Sensor(s) 130 may berelatively small, simple and inexpensive devices owned by the GMA, or byvendors to the GMA, or perhaps by GMA members. In some instances,Sensor(s) 130 may be large, complex and expensive, e.g., an earthimaging satellite with ground-penetrating radar owned perhaps by the USgovernment. Many Sensor(s) 130 may be statically located on a specificproperty. However, other Sensor(s) 130 may be moved about—perhaps mymotor vehicle, or airplane, helicopter, balloon or aerial drone.Autonomous terrestrial and aerial drones may increasingly providedynamic Sensor(s) coverage as technology evolves. Additionally,nano-technology may be expected to provide for a very low-cost means toblanket a GMA's jurisdiction with thousands, millions or perhapsbillions of Sensors 130. In anticipation of nano-technology, Sensor(s)130 may use marker chemicals or dyes to map out basin boundaries andmeasure aquifer flows.

In general, industry best practices may be applied so as to comply withany legal mandates, regulatory requirements, or industry consensus onthe protection of private, sensitive and proprietary information orotherwise privileged information. Encryption may be applied to protectinformation in WAMP Database(s) 158 and also protect informationcommunicated between Users and a WAMP 150, between other WAMP 150 users(such as third parties) and a WAMP 150, and between Sensor(s) 130 and aWAMP 150. In many embodiments, encryption may occur as appropriate usingtechnologies familiar to one skilled in the art, such as Secure SocketsLayer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Virtual Private Network(VPN).

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a GMA's operations withsecure, auditable process(es) for managing and maintaining records of“Groundwater Extraction Rights” such as those rights created, mandatedand/or recognized as a result of California's SGMA. Such systematic,verifiable and traceable process(es) may provide a GMA with a stronglevel of substantiation and therefore protection from potential conflictwith GMA members—such as lawsuits due to asserted accounting errors on agiven property's water extraction balance or ownership or other propertyor water rights interests. Furthermore, in some embodiments, a WAMP 150may facilitate configuring, populating and maintaining a ‘waterextraction rights registry’ (WER registry), which may be stored in aWAMP Database(s) 158. Such a WAMP 150 WER registry (not shown) maypotentially be utilized as a single source of truth of groundwaterextraction rights within a GMA's jurisdiction—thereby assisting in bothcomprehensive management and conflict resolution.

A WAMP 150 WER registry may for example combine extensive data for theproperties within a given basin with mapping, Global Imaging Satellite(GIS) information and perhaps other measurements to provide acomprehensive overview of groundwater use within that basin includingland ownership and acreage, crop-cycle information, water userequirements, actual and/or estimated water use and changes to waterextraction rights (i.e., leased or purchased). Some such data collectionand/or aggregation may be automated such that corresponding data in aWER registry may be updated on an on-going basis so as to keep itcurrent—perhaps updating in real time. Such extensive water resourcedata may include but not be limited to location of extraction, volume ofwater use, and historical water use as well as: property location,boundary, and ownership information perhaps acquired from appropriatesources such as a county recorder's database. WER registry data (perhapsalong with other measured, reported and imported data) may beaggregated, de-identified and analyzed by a WAMP 150 to provide anup-to-date basin-wide (or sub-basin-wide) comprehensive view of wateruse and groundwater extraction, including data from water meters andfrom participation in fallowing programs.

Litigation, financial audit or other time period specific inquiry mayrequire a copy of a GMA's WAMP 150 WER registry as it existed at someprior date and time. In some embodiments a WAMP 150 may log changes to aGMA's WER registry or otherwise record incremental changes to such aregistry such that a date/time instant-specific instance of thatregistry may be displayed or otherwise produced.

A WAMP 150 may be highly scalable: allowing multiple sustainabilitymanagers to simultaneously input, store, access, edit, update, andotherwise process and share (as appropriate) data for a multiplicity ofGMA members. Furthermore, an WAMP 150 may provide service-configuratingfacilities to activate/de-activate one/some/all member services providedby WAMP 150, e.g., newsletter, reporting, WER registry, trading accessand other WAMP services—perhaps district-wide or on a member or propertyaccount specific basis.

Utilizing contact information entered in WAMP 150 property accounts, aWAMP 150 may be utilized by a GMA as a powerful communications facilityto interact with property managers. For example, SMS, email and or voicecommunications may be sent automatically or “at the click of a button”,removing the requirement for integrating multiple third party systemsand reducing overall costs. In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may includefacilities enabling:

-   -   every sustainability manager to provide the highest possible        standards of property manager engagement,    -   per-property scheduling of billing, invoicing and notices,    -   scheduling of automated contact reminders for property        managers—such as emailed newsletters, event notifications and        scheduled phone call cycles,    -   logging and maintaining full per-property-account contact        history—including recorded (and therefore reproducible evidence        of) phone, voicemail, email and scanned.

In some embodiments, WAMP 150 may facilitate a GMA to record andsubsequently access contact details as well as written, electronic andvoice communications with property managers and/or third parties. Byproviding a historical record of all such communications, a WAMP 150 maysave time and money while facilitating a comprehensive professionalsupport and outreach service from a GMA to their served members andstakeholders as well as third parties such as a governmental regulatorydepartment.

In some embodiments, A WAMP 150 may facilitate a sustainability managerto configure a set of one or more secure WAMP 150 facilities that aproperty manager (or an appropriately authorized third party) mayutilize. In some embodiments, such a set of WAMP 150 facilities may beinstantiated as a system default of a WAMP 150. Such a set of WAMP 150facilities may for example facilitate a property manager to access, editand update their profile and/or other information managed within aproperty account by a WAMP 150—for instance updating contact or billinginformation. For a given property account, a member may be a groundwaterprovider, a groundwater consumer, or both. Furthermore, a propertymanager may perhaps manage more than one separately owned property—eachwith separate property accounts. Consequently, a given property managermay be associated by a WAMP 150 with one or more property accounts wherethe given property manager may perhaps have differing management rolesfor each.

A WAMP 150 may have major advantages over third party CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) systems in that a WAMP 150 may seamlesslyintegrate with the WER registry and therefore support complex propertyaccount changes such as transferring water rights interests.Nonetheless, in some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may configured tointeroperate with a given third party CRM system utilized by a GMA. Suchan incumbent CRM system may be strongly integrated into the businessoperations of such a GMA—with multiple staff trained on and loyal to theincumbent third party and perhaps resistant to change. A WAMP 150 mayfor example import and perhaps augment member-specific informationmanaged by such a incumbent CRM system perhaps on a repeated basis toremain current with changes to a GMA's membership. In other embodiments,a WAMP 150 may overlay a user interface onto a third party CRM. Byutilizing such an incumbent CRM analogous to an external data base forthe WAMP 150, a WAMP 150 may import and export property account recordsbetween the WAMP 150 and the GMA's incumbent CRM. Furthermore, the database record definitions of such an incumbent CRM may be augmented so asto support the operation of the WAMP 150 as a GMA migrates from awayfrom a legacy CRM system.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a GMA to configure andproduce custom-tailored reports. For example, a WAMP 150 may importsurface water utilization data for a given property account in order tocalculate and report how much of overall water utilization is suppliedto that property by surface water as opposed to groundwater. A WAMP 150may facilitate configuring reporting intervals for a given report andthe method in which a given report is to be initiated (manually by aSustainability Manager or automatically by a WAMP 150). A WAMP 150 mayprovide a range of sophisticated reporting facilities—allowing thegeneration of charts, diagrams, maps and various downloads to givesustainability managers instant access to and analysis of aggregateddata pertaining water utilization in their groundwater basin.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate producing uniquedistrict-specific or basin-specific groundwater analytics reports withaccess to and distribution of such reports controlled securely by theWAMP 150 as configured by the GMA. For example, a WAMP 150 mayfacilitate a given GMA to produce customized SGMA-compliant physical orelectronic reports with WAMP system software updates supporting newSGMA-compliant report requirements as they become known. So for examplein California, a WAMP 150 may facilitate the current and future needs ofindividual GMAs to provide reports to the state government authority tofulfill the requirements of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act.Furthermore, all reporting requirements under California's SustainableGroundwater Management Act may be automated through a WAMP 150. Forexample, a WAMP 150 may facilitate configuring reporting intervals aswell as the method in which a given report is to be undertaken (physicalor electronic). Such reports may be scheduled periodically for automaticproduction in addition to being produced on an as-needed basis. A WAMP150 may be configured to distribute a given report internal to the GMAas well as potentially to a configured set of property accounts and/orthird parties such as government agencies. Therefore, such reportsincluding the groundwater analytics they may contain may assist GMAsustainability managers and/or their property managers counterparts withfuture business planning.

Reporting facilities in some embodiments of a WAMP 150 may be configuredto meet the specific needs of a given GMA as dictated in part by itsgroundwater resources, commercial interests, its property account andproperty managers needs, and governmental edicts. Such a reportingfacility thusly configured may provide precisely the requiredinformation as and when it is needed. Furthermore, reporting facilitiesmay be configured to distribute for a limited time or to a proscribedlist of distributees so as to support one-off circumstances such asexperimental projects.

Reporting facilities provided by WAMP 150 may for example be configuredto include, but not be limited to:

-   -   Generation of automated emailed reports to GMA staff, property        accounts and property managers or third parties on a regular (or        demand) basis—ensuring everyone may stay informed and        up-to-date,    -   Automated distribution of reports to managers on financial        management and expected expense outcomes. These may be        individually configured such that variations from expected        results are immediately picked up and reported to appropriate        GMA staff or appropriate third parties, and    -   Automated SMS and email of selected report notifications and/or        reports, so for example a report may be successfully distributed        even if the receiving property manager is in the field on a        tractor.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a GMA to collectfees—i.e., calculate the amount of fees, distribute invoices, trackpayments and export fee data to external systems and applications suchas a variety of accounting software packages. A GMA may configure a WAMP150 to calculate and charge: a fixed fee, fee per acre foot, tiered fee,(or a mix of) based on an individual property or perhaps on abasin/sub-basin wide level.

In some embodiments, WAMP 150 billing analytic facilities may facilitatea GMA to obtain reports on overdue accounts, best/quickest payers and/ortop payers. Furthermore, such billing analytics may compare currentbilling against prior bill runs and member payment performance to aid aGMA in revenue and water demand forecasting.

Additionally, a WAMP 150 in some embodiments may be custom configured bya GMA to accommodate the local circumstances of the irrigation industryso as to most effectively integrate into the GMA's business operations.Furthermore, a WAMP 150 may have major advantages over other moregeneric billing systems in that it may seamlessly integrate with theWAMP 150 WER registry. Therefore, once billing criteria may beconfigured by the GMA, a WAMP 150 may automatically apply all suchcriteria to every property account in the GMA's business domain asdetermined by factors such as: landholdings, water use, water rights orwhatever other basis that may deemed appropriate by the GMA and/orregulators for determining fees billed.

In some embodiments, such fees may be configured for a subset of thecomplete set of property accounts served by the GMA thus allowing agiven fee configuration to apply to an individual property account, anexplicit list of property accounts, or a group of property accountsdetermined for example by a factor or factors such as sub-basinlocation, groundwater use efficiency, or perhaps alternative watersources. In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a financialincentive program, such as rebates or credits, that may incentivizegroundwater sustainability or other desired behaviors by GMA membersand/or by third parties.

It may be difficult for potentially competing water management agenciesin a groundwater basin to cooperate to form a VGMA. To help overcomesuch difficulty, in some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitateoperating parallel secure billing facilities with a given such facilityseparately configurable and operable by one of the constituent watermanagement agencies within the VGMA. In this way, the proprietarycommercial information of each of the constituent water managementagencies may be kept secure and private, but still allow for possibleanonymization and aggregation of data to provide basin-wide analytics.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a GMA to configure andoperate an ‘electronic water rights exchange’—i.e., comprehensive watertransfer/marketing, planning, management, analytics, monitoring andreporting facilities which may enable more efficient and sustainablemanagement of groundwater resources within a given stressed groundwaterbasin. Such WAMP 150 facilities may for example enable and facilitatethe transfer and/or settlement of water rights between willing buyersand sellers within such a groundwater basin. Access to such an efficientWAMP 150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange may benefitproperty accounts and property managers with without compromising thesustainability of the basin. Furthermore, such a configurable WAMP150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange may facilitate a GMA tobalance and/or benefit from water efficiency measures within the GMA'smanaged basin(s)/sub-basin(s). Therefore, a WAMP 150 may facilitate bothsustainability managers and property managers in their respectiveWAMP-user roles to sustainably manage valuable finite groundwatersupplies. Dynamic data collection and powerful report generationcapabilities integrated with such a WAMP 150 water transfer/marketingfacility may additionally enable sustainability managers to makeintelligent and informed decisions about short- and long-term waterusage within their basins. This may allow sustainability managers andproperty managers to maximize agricultural output while reducing costsand waste and ensuring the most efficient management and use of scarcegroundwater resources.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150-facilitated electronic water rightsexchange may facilitate trading surface water rights in addition togroundwater rights. By facilitating trading of surface water rights andgroundwater rights in the same exchange, a WAMP 150 may help lessendepletion of a given groundwater basin by increasing cost-efficientaccess to alternative water sources and distribution. In addition to aGMA's members benefiting from standardized, trusted and efficientprocesses for conducting water right transfers, a WAMP 150-facilitatedelectronic water rights exchange may facilitate a GMA to earnrevenue—for example from market transaction fees. Additionally, a WAMP150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange may enable partnershipswith third party financial institutions such that water rights tradesmay perhaps be financed and/or insured.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a GMA to create orfacilitate a market for trading water rights including but not limitedto: extraction, distribution, storage and/or usage, thereby perhapspromoting more efficient (and perhaps more equitable and sustainable)water utilization. A WAMP 150 may for example provide an electronicwater rights exchange facility where water extraction, distribution,storage, usage and/or derivative rights may be optioned, leased, sold orotherwise traded, securitized, capitalized or monetized. Such a WAMP150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange may facilitate a GMA toconfigure sustainable trading rules and thereby, for example inCalifornia, allow for the activation of the water extraction rightstrading powers of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. A WAMP150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange may be configured so asto utilize trading rules that promote groundwater sustainability—forexample, limiting the quantities of water that may be traded by a givenproperty account utilizing the exchange. Furthermore, a WAMP 150 mayfacilitate the GMA to update and uniformly implement changes in policyand sustainable trading rules—for example suspending new groundwatertransfers for a sub-basin that may be falling behind against GMAsustainability goals.

A WAMP 150 in some embodiments may be shared by two or more GMAscooperating as a VGMA. Such a shared WAMP 150 may facilitate a virtualintegrated electronic water rights exchange that may in turn facilitatethe transfer of water rights within a multi-GMA groundwater basin.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may be configured to facilitate partiesoutside a GMA's district to utilize the facilities of the GMA's WAMP-150facilitated electronic water rights exchange. By facilitating thetransfer of groundwater not needed within the GMA's district, willingbuyers and sellers of water have access to an efficient, cost-effectiveand impartial marketplace that may permit water to be re-distributed toits highest value end use without compromising the sustainability of theGMA's basin. Such groundwater transfer may be actualized by utilizingexisting groundwater distribution systems that may otherwise be falloweddue to regional water shortages.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a water trading news (andperhaps more general news) portal. A WAMP 150 may facilitatesustainability managers to access aggregated and perhaps curatedinformation feeds including but not limited to: news, social media,research, and regulatory actions. Additionally, such news andinformation may be distributed by a WAMP 150 to members, propertymanagers and other interested third parties. Such WAMP-accessedinformation may therefore assist a GMA and its members to better manageits water resources.

As stated previously, for the purposes of the discussion that follows,when the term ‘GMA’ is used, it may be assumed unless stated otherwisethat the discussion applies equivalently to a VGMA; also the term ‘GMA’may be assumed to apply equivalently to a surface water managementagency (unless stated otherwise) should such a surface water managementagency manage or utilize groundwater resources, or anticipate doing soor cooperating in a VGMA, or for any other reason utilize a WAMP 150.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a GMA to configure,operate, and in general in a systematic fashion adopt utilization ofthat WAMP 150 so as to migrate the GMA away from its current legacyoperations system(s) and replace them with the thusly configuredfacilities of the WAMP 150. A WAMP 150 may facilitate different types ofwater agencies, including but not limited to:

-   -   a surface water management agency,    -   a groundwater management agency (GMA), and    -   two or more GMAs (or other water agencies) cooperating in a        VGMA.

Specific to the operation of a VGMA, a WAMP 150 may facilitateorganizing, assembling and/or operating a VGMA. Such VGMA facilitationmay include combining or keeping securely separate (as appropriate) thedata, functions and responsibilities of the constituent water managementagencies cooperating to form the VGMA so as to eliminate redundantoperation while protecting constituent agencies' proprietary/commercialinterests and facilitating de-identified aggregated data to be utilizedby the VGMA. In turn, this may enable the respective GMAs to providereports to a government authority to fulfill the requirements of a SGMA.Hence, the thusly WAMP 150-facilitated VGMA may facilitate existing GMAsto maintain their relationships with their members while complying andcontributing to the implementation of the SGMA.

In some embodiments, a GMA may utilize its own staff to perform themigration process from the GMA's legacy operations systems to a WAMP150. Or a GMA may utilize third parties to assist in or to totallyperform such a migration process.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a systematic phasedmigration from a legacy operations system to a WAMP 150. In particular,a WAMP 150 may provide a GMA with facilities that educate, prepare andguide the GMA in a step-by-step fashion through such a phased process.For example, a WAMP 150 may provide facilities to import the data inputsand outputs of the legacy operations system (either automatically or ifnecessary manually) such that those same inputs may be processed by theWAMP 150 and the resulting WAMP 150 outputs may be compared by the WAMP150 and by the GMA against the outputs of the legacy operations system.

The process of migrating two or more GMAs cooperating in a VGMA fromtheir individual legacy operations systems to a WAMP 150 may be similarto the phased migration process for a single GMA—but typically morecomplex. A WAMP 150 may facilitate each of the GMAs to migrate theirrespective operations individually and separately to the WAMP 150 as wasdescribed above. As each GMA's migration to the WAMP 150 may becompleted, the WAMP 150 may further facilitate that GMA to migrate to aVGMA configuration and operation of that WAMP 150.

Referring to FIG. 2, a WAMP 150 may support a GMA's capacity toinnovatively and reliably service members within the GMA's districtwhile installing the reasonable controls necessary for a GMA to manageits operations. The GMA users of a WAMP 150 may be facilitated by theWAMP 150 to cost effectively and efficiently implement groundwatermanagement requirements—for instance those mandated by California'sSustainable Groundwater Management Act.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may include one or more ‘facilitators’that may be utilized via user interface(s) to configure, monitor, test,control, manipulate and otherwise operate the user-apparent facilitiesof a WAMP 150. Such facilitators may integrate, interwork and seamlesslyshare data with each other and among WAMP 150 facilities. In someembodiments, data created, updated by, or otherwise associated with agiven WAMP 150 facility may be accessed, utilized, replicated, modified,aggregated, associated, or otherwise utilized by one or more additionalfacilitators of a WAMP 150. Furthermore, a given screen display by aWAMP 150 facilitator may include data from one or more facilities of aWAMP 150 or information derived from such data from one or more suchfacilities. WAMP facilitators may include, but not limited to:

-   -   Water Rights Registry Facilitator (WRRF) 241,    -   Relationship Management Facilitator (RMF) 242,    -   Basin/sub-basin Reporting Facilitator (BRF) 243,    -   Basin/sub-basin Billing Facilitator (BBF) 244,    -   Transfer & Market Facilitator (TMF) 245, and    -   Groundwater Management Agency Formation Facilitator (GMAFF) 246.

For example, in some embodiments a Water Rights Registry Facilitator(WRRF) 241 may facilitate recording and updating information pertainingto members' and stakeholders' water rights and related propertyinterests within or related to the jurisdiction of a GMA; a RelationshipManagement Facilitator (RMF) 242 may facilitate a GMA staying in contactwith and providing services to its members; a Basin/sub-basin ReportingFacilitator (BRF) 243 may facilitate regulatory-compliant reporting by aGMA to governing or interested regulatory bodies; a Basin/sub-basinBilling Facilitator (BBF) 244 may facilitate billing for fees such asgroundwater usage fees from members or appropriate third parties; aTransfer & Market Facilitator (TMF) 245 may facilitate a GMA providing aWAMP 150-facilitated water rights exchange market where for exampleoptions or rights for quantities of water might be offered for sale,negotiated, purchased, and recorded; and a Groundwater Management AgencyFormation Facilitator (GMAFF) 246 may facilitate configuring a WAMP 150and entering, importing and otherwise acquiring data utilized by such aWAMP 150 to facilitate the operation of a water agency such as a GMA, orfacilitate the operation of two or more GMAs and/or other water agenciescooperating as a VGMA).

Water Rights Registry Facilitator (WRRF) 241.

In some embodiments, a WRRF 241 may be utilized for secure cloud based‘water extraction rights registry’ (WER registry) services that mayfacilitate a GMA to log, monitor, regulate and otherwise manage wateruse rights. A WRRF 241 may facilitate accumulating, storing, updatingand otherwise managing a comprehensive WER registry. Additionally, aWRRF 241 may facilitate a GMA's utilization of secure, auditableprocess(es) for managing and maintaining records of a WER registry. AGMA (as well as appropriately authorized third parties) may utilize sucha WAMP WER registry facilitated by a WRRF 241 as a reliable source ofgroundwater extraction rights information within the GMA's jurisdiction.

In some embodiments, a sustainability manager may utilize a WRRF 241 toimport property location, boundary, and ownership information fromappropriate sources such as a county recorder's database. A WRRF 241 mayadditionally be configured so as to interface and obtain data from thirdparty water-use reporting systems. Imported data along with other WERregistry data and data managed by other WAMP 150 facilitators may beaggregated and analyzed to provide an easily comprehensible basin-wideoverview of groundwater and/or surface water use.

In some embodiments, a WRRF 241 may facilitate a sustainability managerto retrieve data from an earlier date's WER registry that may have beenlogged or otherwise recorded by a WAMP 150. Additionally, a WRRF 241 mayfacilitate a sustainability manager to configure WER registry recordaccess controls for one or more property managers. Such WER registryaccess controls may for example be configured to include, write only,read and write, read write and edit, approve and overwrite authorizationfor specific elements of WER registry data including read only access toprior date's WER registries.

Relationship Management Facilitator (RMF) 242.

In some embodiments, an RMF 242 may be utilized for secure cloud basedmember relationship management services that may facilitate a GMA's (orother agency's) sustainability manager to: input, store, access, edit,update, and otherwise process and share (as appropriate) member profile,contact and interaction details including written, electronic and verbalcommunication with property managers and/or third parties. In someembodiments, a RMF 242 may assign, perhaps automatically, a uniquemember ID number to each member. Such a member ID number may be then beutilized by a WAMP 150 to search WAMP Database(s) 158 for informationpertaining to the member assigned that unique member ID number.

An RMF 242 may facilitate multiple sustainability managers tosimultaneously input, store, access, edit, update, and otherwise processand share (as appropriate) a multiplicity of GMA member's water serviceaccounts.

In some embodiments, an RMF 242 may facilitate configuring a WAMP 150 soas to activate or de-activate WAMP 150 services to a given member.Furthermore, a sustainability manager may utilize an RMF 242 toconfigure a set of secure WAMP 150 facilities that a property manager(or an appropriate third party) may utilize.

An RMF 242 in some embodiments may facilitate a sustainability managerto communicate (e.g., via SMS, email and or voice) with propertymanagers utilizing the member contact facilities of a WAMP 150. Suchmember contact facilities may include a member-accessible web pageand/or a mobile App made available for member's mobile devices.

An RMF 242, in some embodiments, may be utilized by a sustainabilitymanager to add a contact note (or notes) to a member account record—forexample preserving details of a conversation. In some embodiments, a RMF242 may facilitate a sustainability manager to logically “attach” acontact note or other annotation to virtually any type of WAMPDatabase(s) 158 record. Such a flexible annotation facility may bethought of as the digital equivalent of a post-it note.

In some embodiments of a WAMP 150, an RMF 242 may integrate withcorresponding WRRF 241 to provide an integrated interface to facilitatea sustainability manager to access and update a property account'spersonal and business information including their property water andland assets. Additionally, a sustainability manager may access andupdate a property manager's personal and business information includingtheir per-property managed water and land assets Such an integratedinterface may provide:

-   -   Personal and business data for every water consumer, water        provider, and irrigation stakeholder within a basin, and    -   A streamlined summary page for the WER registry data for every        property account and every property manager.

Basin/Sub-Basin Reporting Facilitator (BRF) 243.

In some embodiments, a BRF 243 may be utilized for secure cloud basedreport generation and publishing services that may facilitate a GMA toconfigure and produce custom-tailored reports as well as configuringreporting intervals for a given report and the method in which a givenreport is to be undertaken (manual or electronic). A BRF 243 may providea range of sophisticated reporting facilities—allowing the generation ofcharts, maps and downloads to give sustainability managers instantaccess to high level aggregated data pertaining to irrigation perproperty account in their groundwater basin.

In some embodiments, a BRF 243 may facilitate a GMA to create and reportupon a groundwater sustainability plan (GSP) that may be specific tothat GMA's jurisdiction. Furthermore, a BRF 243 may facilitate a GMA tocooperate with one or more additional GMAs to produce a singlebasin-wide GSP. A WAMP 150-facilitated VGMA may simplify and speed suchGMA cooperation to produce and report out such a GSP. Additionally, aBRF 243 may facilitate a GMA or cooperating GMAs or VGMA to report a GSPand subsequent changes thereto to the appropriate overseeing governmentregulatory agency(s). In states such as California, such a reported GSPmay be basin-wide reflecting the cooperation of GMAs within that basin.

In some embodiments, a GSP may be created and/or revised external to theWAMP 150. Any sustainability requirements derived from such an externalGSP may be imported to the WAMP 150.

In some embodiments, a BRF 243 may facilitate a GMA to accumulate alldata relevant to monitoring the GMA's performance relative to the GSP.Furthermore, a BRF 243 may be configured to generate correspondingsustainability reports and communicate such reports to the appropriategovernment regulatory authorities—thusly showing them how the GMA (orcooperating GMAs) are performing against their GSP.

In some embodiments, a BRF 243 may facilitate a sustainability managerto produce unique district-specific or basin-specific groundwateranalytics reports. A sustainability manager may be further facilitatedby numerous display options of a BRF 243 including: charts, diagrams andannotated maps—thus providing instant access to aggregated and analyzeddata with granularity options ranging from basin-wide down to perproperty account. Additionally, a BRF 243 may facilitate asustainability manager to configure reporting intervals as well as themethod in which a given report is to be undertaken (physical orelectronic). BRF 243 reporting facilities may also be configured todistribute reports for a limited time or to a proscribed list ofdistributees.

In some embodiments, BRF 243 groundwater analytics reports may assistGMA sustainability managers and/or their property managers counterpartswith future business planning. For example, a BRF 243 may interwork witha TMF 245 to facilitate reporting on water market trends within theGMA's basin, but also potentially regionally, nationally and/orworld-wide.

In some embodiments, a sustainability manager may utilize a BRF 243hundreds of times a day to generate reports. Some such reports might beas simple as a table with one or a few entries. Other BRF243-facilitated reports may be much longer and more complex and in someembodiments may even include active display elements such as XML.Additionally, a sustainability manager may utilize the facilities of aBRF 243 to save a record of a BRF 243-facilitated report and make itaccessible so it may be shared with others—i.e., to publish the report.In some instances, a report may be published in a relatively passivefashion. For example, it may be posted on a GMA members web site orprovided to a government agency. Or it may simply be archived perhapswith a quick added annotation by the sustainability manager.

In some embodiments, a BRF 243 may archive some or all reports generatedby the BRF 243. So for example, a sustainability manager may browsethrough the archive for the previous day to find an interesting cropdistribution pie chart he glimpsed. Finding the report with that piechart, the sustainability manager may then publish the report containingthat pie chart or perhaps publish just the pie chart as a mini-report inorder to share it with colleagues or with third parties as appropriate.In this fashion, a BRF 243 may augment a sustainability manager's memoryand knowledge and perhaps provide an ex-post facto means to publish areport that would otherwise be lost or need to be regenerated orrecreated based on the sustainability manager's recollection.

Basin/Sub-Basin Billing Facilitator (BBF) 244.

In some embodiments, a BBF 244 may be utilized for secure cloud basedmember (and appropriate third parties) bill generation, distribution,analysis, accounting and payment services that may facilitate asustainability manager to configure and operate the billing facilitiesof a GMA's WAMP 150 (e.g., calculate fees, send invoices, track andfacilitate payments and export data to external systems and applicationssuch as a variety of accounting software packages.) A BBF 244 mayfacilitate a sustainability manager to configure a WAMP 150 to calculateand charge: a fixed fee, fee per acre foot, tiered fee, (or a mix of) onan individual member or on a basin/sub-basin wide level. A BBF 244 mayfor example facilitate configuring the billing criteria utilized for feedetermination including but not limited to: landholdings, water use andwater rights. A sustainability manager may also be facilitated in customconfiguring the application of fees—for instance: to an individualproperty account, an explicit list of property accounts, or a group ofproperty accounts. Additionally, a BBF 244 may facilitate asustainability manager to obtain reports on account status andperformance as well as other billing analytics that may for instancefacilitate forecasting water demand and revenue based perhaps in part onhistorical trends.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, a BBF 244 may be utilized by a GMA toassemble payment information, distribute invoices and collect payments,as well as notify and track the entire billing process (e.g., accountsreceivable aging, cash received, etc.). The sustainability manager mayalso configure invoices to be sent out by a WAMP 150 eitherelectronically or via paper mail or perhaps both.

In some instances, different areas within a GMA's district may utilizewater from differing sources and perhaps with differing costs to the GMAor differing impacts on groundwater sustainability. Therefore, in someembodiments, Water Accounter 266 may facilitate a GMA to configure a‘billing area’ such that a groundwater extractor and/or water consumerin a given billing area may be invoiced utilizing different billingrates and/or fees than in another such billing area. Furthermore, theWAMP 150 ‘boundary mapping tool’ may be utilized to configure thegeographical boundaries of a given billing area. Such a boundary mappingtool may facilitate a sustainability manager to place virtual pins on amap image of the district or a portion of the district, where straightvirtual lines between virtual pins represent segments of the areaboundary. Should a more jagged boundary need to be drawn, an additionalvirtual pin may be placed along an existing virtual line and then thatvirtual pin may be “dragged and dropped” to a new map location,stretching and redrawing the straight line segments on each side of thenewly added and moved virtual pin. The process may be repeated withadditional virtual pins for numerous zigs and zags. Such a technique forplacing and modifying “rubber band lines” to create a complex outlinemay be familiar to one skilled in the art. In some embodiments, a WAMP150 may integrate and utilize third party-sourced boundary drawingfacilities.

Additionally, subsequent to configuring the boundaries of a billingarea, in some embodiments, a sustainability manager may utilize a BBF244 to create a new billing line, enter in the appropriate billingrate(s) and/or fee(s) and attached the billing line to the billing area.

Transfer & Market Facilitator (TMF) 245.

In some embodiments, a TMF 245 may be utilized for secure cloud basedwater rights exchange management services that may facilitate a GMA toconfigure, monitor, and operate a WAMP 150-facilitated electronic waterrights exchange. Utilizing a TMF 245, a sustainability manager may forexample configure the trade offering categories and classes of such aWAMP 150-facilitated water rights exchange. Configurable tradingcategories may include, but not be limited to: extraction, distribution,storage, usage, securitized and/or derivative rights. Configurabletrading classes may include but not be limited to: options, leases,conservation credits, sales and swaps.

In some embodiments, a TMF 245 may facilitate a sustainability managerto configure a WAMP 150-facilitated water rights exchange toautomatically update the GMA's WER registry to reflect trades made viathe exchange. Additionally, a TMF 245 may facilitate a GMA configurableexternal user interface (perhaps web-based and/or mobile app based) forproperty managers and possibly other third parties such as water brokersto access and utilize the exchange.

In some embodiments, a TMF 245 may facilitate a sustainability managerto monitor the operation of a WAMP 150-facilitated electronic waterrights exchange. Additionally a TMF 245 may be configured to monitorexternal markets. In addition to configuring market analytics andreports, a sustainability manager may configure a TMF 245 to providenotifications and alerts when a monitored event or events occur.

Additionally, in some embodiments a TMF 245 may facilitate asustainability manager to manually manage the operation of the WAMP150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange. For example, asustainability manager may utilize facilities of the TMF 245 to shutdown the exchange due to an emergency, tragedy or disaster—e.g., anearthquake resulting in an aqueduct breach.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, a TMF 245 may be configured tofacilitate interworking of a GMA's WAMP 150-facilitated electronic waterrights exchange with other GMA's WAMP 150 water rights exchanges.Additionally, a sustainability manager may configure a TMF 245 tofacilitate interoperation with third party water/commodity exchanges.

Groundwater Management Agency Formation Facilitator (GMAFF) 246.

In some embodiments, a GMAFF 246 may be utilized for secure cloud basedWAMP 150-bring-up and management services that may facilitate a GMA toplan for, configure, operate, evaluate, upgrade, and in general adoptutilization of a WAMP 150 so as to migrate that GMA away from itscurrent legacy operations systems and replace them with the thuslyconfigured, data populated and tested facilities of a WAMP 150. A GMAFF246 may for example facilitate phased planning, configuration, operationand testing of a GMA's migration to a WAMP 150 by facilitating acomprehensive checklist and progress reporting system to allow trackingof and enhanced confidence in the migration process facilitated by theWAMP 150. A GMAFF 246 may support different types of water agencies,including but not limited to:

-   -   a surface water management agency,    -   a groundwater management agency (GMA), and    -   two or more GMAs (or other water management agencies)        cooperating in a VGMA.

A GMAFF 246 in some embodiments may facilitate a GMA and itssustainability manager(s) to study, plan for, prepare for, and undertakemigration from the GMA's legacy operations systems to a WAMP 150. AGMAFF 246 may for example facilitate migration planning by providingon-line training, visualization aids, printing of manuals, pamphlets,quick guides, check lists and other documentation. Such planningfacilitation and documentation may help to prepare both GMA staff andGMA members for the migration to a WAMP 150.

Additionally, in some embodiments, a GMAFF 246 may facilitate a GMA toconfigure a GMA user account individually for each sustainabilitymanager—with privileges and access controls controlling which WAMP 150facilities a given sustainability manager may access and utilize.Similarly, a GMAFF 246 may facilitate a GMA to configure data accesscontrols for WAMP Database(s) 158 records on aper-sustainability-manager basis. So for example, a GMA may configureWER registry record access controls to various privileges to include: noaccess, write only (i.e., new records only), read and write, read writeand edit, approve and overwrite authorization for specific elements ofWER registry data as well as controlling read only access to priordate's WER registries.

In some embodiments, a sustainability manager of a GMA may utilize aGMAFF 246 to configure facilities of a WAMP 150 that the GMA may be inthe process of migrating to. The process of initially configuring suchfacilities may result in a GMAFF 246 generating checklist(s) anddocumentation that the sustainability manager may utilize to guide andmonitor the migration process. As the sustainability manager furtherutilizes the GMAFF 246 to configure facilities of a WAMP 150, additionalchecklist(s) and documentation may be generated by the GMAFF 246. So forexample, such a GMAFF 246 may be utilized to guide the sustainabilitymanager step-wise through a phased process of planning, configuring,inputting data to, operating, testing and evaluating operation of theWAMP 150. Additionally, a GMAFF 246 may facilitate a GMA to generatemigration plans, and subsequently back-annotate those plans to provide arecord of the decision making and process outcomes and insights.

A GMAFF 246 may facilitate the constituent water agencies of a VGMA tomigrate from their legacy operations systems to a WAMP 150. For example,each GMA may separately migrate its own operations to the WAMP 150 andhaving successfully done so may utilize a GMAFF 246 to cooperativelyintegrate each GMA's operations with the operations of the otherconstituent GMAs so as to effectively and successfully assemble andmigrate the operations of the constituent GMAs to VGMA facilitated bythe WAMP 150.

In some instances, one or more WAMP 150 facilitators 241-246 may beembodied as a web application(s) or native application(s) that mayexecute on a WMAP 150 user's terminal device.

Referring further to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, WAMP database(s) 158may include, but not be limited to:

-   -   Jurisdiction and Rights Database 291,    -   User Database 292,    -   Resource and Physical Plant Database 293,    -   Weather and Climate Database 294, and    -   Workflow Database 295.

In some embodiments, Jurisdiction and Rights Database 291 may functionas a reliable depository for information pertaining to a GMA districtand properties within that GMA district, e.g., property accountsincluding historical, deeded, optioned, leased, purchased or otherwisegranted, awarded, claimed or otherwise acquired groundwater and/orsurface water rights and interests.

In some embodiments, User Database 292 may function as a reliabledepository for information pertaining to a GMA district and members andnon-member users within the GMA district, e.g., property owners,property managers, the GMA's sustainability managers, third party dataproviders and consumers.

In some embodiments, Resource and Physical Plant Database 293 mayfunction as a reliable depository for inventory records of waterresources and physical plant utilized for the pumping, storage,measurement (including Sensor(s) 130) and distribution of waterresources. Additionally, Resource and Physical Plant Database 293 maystore measurements and other data related to water resources andphysical plant, e.g., 3-D maps, satellite images, well sample resultsand other water resource measurements, including estimated volume, flowrates, utilization, accessibility, and recharge and depletion rates.

In some embodiments, Weather and Climate Database 294 may function as areliable depository for information pertaining to weather andclimate—both current year and longer term, e.g., measurements,statistics, history, projections and models.

In some embodiments, Workflow Database 295 may function as a reliabledepository for information pertaining to day-to-day operation of aGMA—particularly the work tasks of sustainability managers—includingschedules of future activities, records of ongoing activities andcontacts, and archival logs of completed activities and contacts.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may include one or more WAMP facilities.Such WAMP 150 facilities may integrate, interwork and seamlessly sharedata with each other and also with WAMP 150 facilitators 241-246. A WAMP150 facilitator 241-246 may utilize and perhaps display data from one ormore facilities of a WAMP 150. WAMP 150 facilities may include facilitylogic and/or control data/metadata related for example to configuring,maintaining and utilizing the WAMP database(s) 158. WAMP 150 facilitiesmay include, but not limited to:

-   -   Stakeholder Associator 262,    -   Resource Monitor 264,    -   Water Accounter 266,    -   Water Marketer 268, and    -   Activity Manager 269.

In some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may function asassociative and analytic nexus for data relating to a GMA'sstakeholders. Stakeholder Associator 262 may utilize one or more of WAMPDatabase(s) 158. Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate servicesprovided to or otherwise related to the stakeholders of a GMA where suchservices may be made apparent to a WAMP 150 user via WAMP 150facilitator(s) 241-246. As discussed previously, a GMA's stakeholdersmay include, but not be limited to:

-   -   The GMA including sustainability managers,    -   GMA district members—e.g., property owners and property        managers,    -   Surface water rights holders,    -   Surface water management agencies,    -   Non-agricultural water consumers and their water agencies,    -   Groundwater recharge area property owners,    -   Local politicians and/or government officials,    -   Sovereign entities such as Native American reservations,    -   Neighboring GMAs,    -   State/provincial and national agriculture, water and        environmental agencies,    -   Regional watershed management agencies,    -   Regional water storage and distribution agencies (e.g., Bureau        of Reclamation, California Department of Water Resources),    -   Water brokers,    -   Non-agricultural large scale water consumers,    -   Non-local non-agricultural water consumers (e.g., large city        dwellers),    -   Geothermal power producers,    -   Politicians, government officials, lobbyists, scientists,        cartographers,    -   Non-governmental organizations,    -   Irrigation industry service and equipment vendors,    -   Water and beverage bottling companies,    -   Right of way holders, and    -   Neighboring geo-political entities (e.g., cities, states,        provinces and countries).

Clearly, a GMA may have many more stakeholders than just the GMAdistrict members, property owners and property managers. It is importantto a GMA that a WAMP 150 offer appropriate facilities reflecting,managing, and as utilized, catering to the interests of a multiplicityof stakeholder types. In some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262may be utilized by a WAMP 150 to determine a given user's stakeholdertype and therefore what facilities (as may be further constrained byconfiguration) may be appropriate for utilization by that given user.Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate a sustainability manager torecord in the WAMP 150 database(s) 158 relevant contact information formembers, and to associate selected subsets of members so as tofacilitate external communication or internal reporting, and track allcommunication (internal and external) with or about a member (viae-mail, phone calls or in person). Additionally, Stakeholder Associator262 may utilize User Database 254, Workflow Database 295, Jurisdictionand Rights Database 251 (and perhaps to a lesser extent Resource andPhysical Plant Database 252 and Weather and Climate Database 253) todetermine stakeholders, their stakeholder type and various other sortsof stakeholder characteristics and service requirements.

In some embodiments, facilitating communication and good workingrelations with a GMA's many stakeholders may be further facilitated byStakeholder Associator 262. A GMA may for example utilize a WAMP 150 toprovide numerous reports and notifications to GMA stakeholders. However,whether or not a given stakeholder may be provided a specific report ornotification may be determined by the type of stakeholder. For example,a notice of a water fee rate increase may be sent to GMA members, butnot to neighboring GMAs. Stakeholder Associator 262 may for examplefacilitate such automated determinations based on stakeholder type.

Stakeholder Associator 262 in some embodiments may be utilized toconfigure and subsequently determine—based on a given stakeholder'scharacteristics—what WAMP facilities and/or data that givenstakeholder's network access account may utilize. Such a determinationmay perhaps facilitate safeguard(s) against accidental mis-granting ofaccess to sensitive WAMP 150 facilities and/or data.

A property account within a GMA's district may have more than oneproperty manager user—for instance, the owner of the property inaddition to an individual or firm hired by the property owner. In someembodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate a GMA toconfigure shared network access for such ‘joint property managers’.Stakeholder Associator 262 may for example facilitate each such jointproperty manager user to have their own WAMP 150 log-incredentials—e.g., unique user name and password—and yet associate themwith the same property account. Or perhaps a given property account'snetwork access may have a single user name for that property, butseparate passwords for each joint property manager user for thatproperty.

Furthermore, a GMA member may own (or co-own) more than one propertywithin the jurisdiction of the GMA. In some embodiments, StakeholderAssociator 262 may facilitate a GMA member to have a ‘property managermaster account’ such that that GMA member may manage one or more‘property manager auxiliary account(s)’ for use for example by anindividual or firm authorized by the GMA member to manageaspects—perhaps configurable—of the GMA member's business dealings withthe GMA relative to a given property. Additionally, in some embodiments,a GMA member owning (or co-owning) more than one property within thejurisdiction of the GMA may be facilitated by Stakeholder Associator 262to have their own GMA-configured property manager auxiliary account foreach property within the jurisdiction of the GMA. In some instances,such a multi-property owner might ‘switch’ from one property managerauxiliary account to another via a Stakeholder Associator262-facilitated WAMP 150 menu. Perhaps an account specific log-in may berequired for such a property manager auxiliary account switch or perhapsmore conveniently such a property manager master account user may makesuch a switch without an additional log-in to the WAMP 150.

Furthermore, an individual or firm may act as property manager for twoor more properties where the ownership of two or more of thoseproperties may be separate or disjoint. So for example, ABC PropertyManagement may work for both Aiello Family Vineyards and Fujimoto KobeBeef. Accordingly, in some embodiments ABC Property Management may haveseparate WAMP 150 user names and passwords for Aiello and forFujimoto—facilitated by Stakeholder Associator 262. Alternativelyperhaps, ABC Property may have a single Stakeholder Associator262-facilitated user name and password and then a WAMP 150 menu ofauthorized properties where each such authority has been pre-ok'd (againfacilitated by Stakeholder Associator 262) from the master account forthe corresponding property.

In some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate a GMA toassociate one or more persons and/or legal entities—utilizing a WAMP 150grouping abstraction for those persons/legal entities. Typically, such agrouping abstraction may be utilized because those persons/legalentities have something in common—perhaps they all grow crops adjacentto an irrigation canal. Or that something in common may for instance bea legally recognized relationship such as marriage or a businesscontract. A WAMP 150 may utilize a grouping abstraction as if it were anindividual, such that facilities of a WAMP 150 utilized for anindividual may be similarly utilized for those grouped together by agrouping abstraction.

So for example in some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 mayfacilitate a sustainability manager to group several property ownersinto a so called ‘property group’ and assign that property group aunique group name and perhaps also a unique nickname (i.e., a name thatis typically short, easy to remember and/or easy to spell.) Such aproperty group may then be utilized by a WAMP 150, as appropriate, as ifit were an individual property owner. So for example, a sustainabilitymanager may group twenty property owners that have a grape growingco-op. She may group name the group “Sheldon Valley Grape Co-op” andnickname it “SV grapes”. Further by example, the sustainability managermay utilize a WAMP 150 to generate a water utilization forecast reportentering in the name Sheldon Valley Grape Co-op rather than each of theindividual property owners' names. A WAMP 150 may correspondinglygenerate a forecast report for the grouped properties as if they were asingle property. Furthermore, in some embodiments, the WAMP 150 mayadditionally generate a forecast report individually for each of theconstituent properties in the property group. The way(s) in which aproperty group or other grouping abstraction may be utilized by a WAMP150 may vary based on configuration of that WAMP 150.

In some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitateoperations of a GMA with thousands of data records pertaining tomembers, their properties, their water extraction rights and numerousother member (and/or third party) related things. Selecting a specificWAMP Database(s) 158 record may be a daunting task for a sustainabilitymanager (or other WAMP 150 user), therefore Stakeholder Associator 262may provide a “quick search” facility to assist in easing suchselection. So for example, Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate asustainability manager to search for a record by typing in one or moreentry fields in a search input array, where each input field may beutilized by a WAMP 150 as a search key—either independently and/or inconcert. Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate quick search whereina list of multiple search results may be presented to a sustainabilitymanager—each as a clickable link—and the sustainability manager mayselect one by clicking on it. Such a list may have ranked ordering basedon the quality of the match and other considerations. In some instances,a WAMP 150 may be utilized to attempt a perfect search match and shouldno match occur and therefore no corresponding data record be retrieved,a WAMP 150 may facilitate a sustainability manager to create a new datarecord. In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may integrate and utilize thirdparty-sourced search facilities.

In some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate utilizinggeographic subdivisions to configure a district into one or more‘zone(s)’. Such zone-based subdivision of a GMA's district may forexample simplify and speed record searches by narrowing them to asmaller geographic area. Sustainability managers—just as the averageperson—may have an easier time remembering the region that a property islocated in rather than the street name or exact address. Therefore,Stakeholder Associator 262 may be utilized to subdivide a district intogeographic zones with each such zone uniquely named. Such subdivisionmay be facilitated for example by utilizing hydrological features suchas sub-basins or by utilizing existing third party subdivisions such aspolitical zoning. In some instances, Stakeholder Associator 262 mayimport political zone boundary description data from a third partyorganization such as a county government.

In some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate asustainability manager to create new zones utilizing a WAMP 150 boundarymapping tool—for example outlining a geographic area for such a new zoneon a district map. In addition to creating named zones within a GMA,such a WAMP 150 boundary mapping tool in some embodiments may beutilized by a sustainability manager as a visual search tool. So forexample, the boundary mapping tool may be utilized to identify aproperty or properties outlined in whole or in part by thesustainability manager. Additionally, in such a map assisted searchmode, a WAMP 150 boundary mapping tool may cause a boundary outline to“snap” to the boundary of enclosed the property (or enclosed adjacentproperties). Furthermore, such a WAMP 150 boundary mapping tool facilityfor selecting a property or properties may utilized by a sustainabilitymanager to designate a property group. Additionally, where appropriate,a WAMP 150 boundary mapping facility may be utilized to redraw aproperty parcel boundary on WAMP 150 parcel maps of the GMA's district.

In some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate asustainability manager to record in and make updates to WAMP Database(s)158 capturing the potentially complex and manifold legal relationshipsimpacting ownership of, control of, and/or interest in property and/orwater extraction rights. In perhaps the simplest instance a propertyowner in a GMA's district may also own the ground water extractionrights associated with that property. However, ownership and/or controlof the two different rights may be split between parties. For example, ahome owner may have title to the property his house is situated on, buta corporation may hold extractive rights including ground waterextraction rights. As well as a split in ownership between propertyrights and groundwater extraction rights, Stakeholder Associator 262 maybe configured to capture and track shared rights. A simple case is jointownership. For example, a married couple may share rights as tenants incommon. Or, partners in a business—say siblings—may share rights astenants in common. Additionally, non-owner third parties may haveeffective control over property rights and/or groundwater extractionrights. For example, the executor or a trustee may control such rightswhile the ownership is held in trust or passes between owners. Or acourt may enjoin control of such rights, say in a divorce, bankruptcy orperhaps a criminal case. Additionally, a property owner who may alsohold the groundwater extraction rights may lease the property to afarmer who may pump groundwater to irrigate crops. Technically thatfarmer may not hold either the property or the groundwater extractionrights, but the farmer may have a clear cut interest in those rights andin management of groundwater extraction by a GMA. Stakeholder Associator262 may facilitate a GMA to capture, record and revise any and all ofthe above described variations on rights ownership and interests.

Consequently, in some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may beconfigured to record in and make updates to WAMP Database(s) 158capturing the relationships between rights owners and other potentialinterest holders so that all may be served fairly, and as may berequired by legal statutes and mandates in force in the GMA's district.Changes in ownership rights and or interests may require correspondingchanges in WAMP Database(s) 158 including both Jurisdictions and RightsDatabase 291 (e.g., WER registry) and User Database 292.

More specifically to VGMAs, many constituent GMAs (as well as surfacewater management agencies joining in VGMAs) may have financial andcommercial disincentives to share data or relationships—particularlywhen they overlap in watersheds and or groundwater basins. However,Stakeholder Associator 262 may facilitate formation and operation of aVGMA—combining, but appropriately firewalling data from multiple watermanagement agencies cooperating as a seemingly single VGMA.

In some embodiments, Stakeholder Associator 262 may utilize a ‘shareddata access control engine’ capability with configurable rules toenforce how GMAs' shared data is accessed, copied, anonymized,aggregated, communicated and secured. Such rules may for example beconfigured and managed by a third party consultant employed by the GMAsunder the auspices of the VGMA. Such a shared data access control enginecapability may enable multiple GMAs to share the facilities of a WAMP150, while protecting the privacy of individual property accounts withina given GMA's specific district and still enabling anonymized aggregateddata to be appropriately utilized by the VGMA. So for example, for aWAMP 150 shared by two or more GMAs cooperating as a VGMA, StakeholderAssociator 262 may utilize the shared data access control enginecapability to synthesize a virtual VGMA-wide WER registry byappropriately accessing the WER registries of each of the constituentGMAs; or perhaps to assemble a VGMA WER registry by appropriatelyanonymizing, filtering and combining data from those GMA WER registries.

Referring to FIG. 34, logic flow diagram 3400 illustrates an embodimentof a WAMP 150 shared data access control engine. Referring to step 3401,the WAMP 150 may facilitate a GMA to configure rules for automaticallydetermining if a given data record element is public or private. A givendata record may contain one or more data record elements. A data recordelement is indivisible into smaller components such that one componentmay be public and one private.

Referring to step 3403, the WAMP 150 may facilitate the GMA to configurerules for determining whether a data record element may be published.Typically, the minimum requirement for publishing a data record elementmay be that that data record element is determined to be public. Such adata record element once published may be utilized as deemed appropriateby the GMA. For example, a published data record element may beshared—without being anonymized—between GMAs within a VGMA.

Referring to step 3405, the WAMP 150 may facilitate the GMA to acquire anew data record to be analyzed by the WAMP 150. Such a data record mayfor example be so analyzed at the time such a data record is newlyacquired as well as each time such a data record is updated.

Referring to step 3407, the WAMP 150 may facilitate the GMA todistinguish a newly acquired data record from an update to an existingdata record previously acquired by the GMA and stored for instance inthe WAMP database(s) 158. Typically a given data record may contain oneor more data record elements which when examined together may uniquelyidentify a data record—i.e., commonly referred to as a recordidentifier. For example, such a record identifier may be a uniquenumeric value such as a member ID number. Furthermore, typically such arecord identifier may be read-only—i.e., protected from beingover-written with a new value (other than perhaps to delete the entiredata record).

Referring to step 3409, for a data record that is determined to be newlyacquired, the WAMP 150 may facilitate the GMA to create a WAMP 150access control log corresponding to that data record. Such an accesscontrol log may contain fields for information corresponding to eachdata record element within that data record, in which may be recorded,for example, when the data record element was most recently updated(e.g., a time/date stamp) and whether it was determined by the WAMP 150to be public or to be private.

Referring to step 3411, for each data record—whether an update to anexisting data record or newly acquired—the WAMP 150 may facilitate theGMA to add a fresh log entry for that data record and for each recordelement found in it. (Consequently, each time an update to the datarecord is acquired an additional log entry may be added such that thelog may grow larger with more entries over time).

So for example, the fresh log entry may record the source of the datarecord (e.g., country recorder's database), a time/date stamp for theupdate, whether or not the source was a public source (i.e., making theentire data record potentially public). Furthermore, a WAMP 150 mayoptionally be configured by the GMA to place a copy of a given datarecord in the corresponding entry in the access control log.

Referring to step 3413, the WAMP 150 may facilitate the GMA to utilize“public or private” decision rules to log each data record element inthe data record as public or private. So for example, one such rule maybe that a data record element that is unchanged and previously publicshall remain public even if the source of the data record update may bea private one. In this way, each of the data record elements may haveits own record of determinations of being public or private. Therefore,a data record may contain both public and private data record elements;and a given data record element may change from private to public and/orpublic to private over time with successive updates to the data recordcontaining that data record element.

Referring to step 3415, the WAMP 150 may facilitate the GMA utilizerules for determining whether to publish a data record element. So forexample, one such rule may be that a data record element even if publicmay not be published if the data record contains one or more privatedata record elements.

Referring to step 3417, the WAMP 150 may facilitate the GMA todistinguish a data record determined to contain a newly publishable datarecord element from a data record determined not to contain a newlypublishable data record element.

Referring to step 3419, for a data record that is determined to containa newly publishable data record element, the WAMP 150 may facilitate theGMA to publish—at the GMA′ discretion—each data record element newlydetermined to be publishable.

Whether or not a data record that is determined to contain a newlypublishable data record element, the process may continue at step 3405.

In some embodiments, for a given data record element stored in WAMPDatabase(s) 158 or otherwise stored within a WAMP 150, such a datarecord element may be secured utilizing encryption and/or other means ofsecurity regardless of whether that data record element may bedetermined to be public, to be publishable, or to be published.

Referring back again to FIG. 2, in some embodiments, Resource Monitor264 may function as associative and analytic nexus for data relating toa GMA's water resources—i.e., groundwater in particular, but alsopossibly surface water—and relating to Sensor(s) 130. Resource Monitor264 may utilize one or more of WAMP Database(s) 158. Resource Monitor264 may facilitate services related to water utilization within a GMA'sdistrict where such services may be made apparent to a WAMP 150 user viaWAMP 150 facilitator(s) 241-246.

Resource Monitor 264 may utilize Resource and Physical Plant Database252, Jurisdiction and Rights Database 251, User Database 254 and Weatherand Climate Database 253 to determine water availability, distribution,utilization, loss, quality and other water-resource relatedcharacteristics for a given GMA district property or member.

As indicated previously, private access to and depletion of groundwatergoes largely unmeasured, unmetered and unregulated. This clearlypresents a key challenge to a GMA's sustainability mandate. ResourceMonitor 264 may facilitate a GMA to locate, monitor, measure, chargefees for, and/or otherwise regulate and limit extraction ofgroundwater—both private and public.

In order to locate groundwater extraction, in some embodiments a WAMP150 may utilize Resource Monitor 264. In addition to utilizing WAMPDatabase(s) 158 such as Resource and Physical Plant Database 292,Resource Monitor 264 may access External Database(s) 170 including butnot limited to: local government records of permits for drilling wells,private well drilling and service company records, as well as insurance,loan, title, credit bureau and other “big data” sources as pertain towater wells, well equipment, well services and power run well pumps.Additionally, Resource Monitor 264 may utilize state and nationalgovernmental databases—i.e., data identifying wells derived from imageanalysis of satellite and aerial imagery or from sources similar tothose listed above. Furthermore, as Resource Monitor 264 acquires andanalyzes such External Database(s) 170-sourced data, it may update theGMA's Resource and Physical Plant Database 292 to record the location ofgroundwater wells in the GMA's district.

Furthermore, for a given well, additional well-related information maybe acquired, correlated and recorded by Resource Monitor 264 in theResource and Physical Plant Database 292 and/or other WAMP Database(s)158. Such additional well-related information may include: ownership,well permit status, well drilling company, property water rights, wellage, well depth, well bore size, well continuous-pumping capacity, wellwater level history, pump location (submerged or groundlevel), pumphorsepower rating, source of pump power (e.g., generator, solar or linepower), associated storage of extracted groundwater (e.g., water storageponds or tanks), sharing or distribution of extracted groundwater (e.g.,water cooperative) and property or properties served by the extractedgroundwater. A GMA's Resource and Physical Plant Database 292 maycontain such data for planned, active and decommissioned wells.

Additionally, in some embodiments a WAMP 150 may utilize ResourceMonitor 264 to monitor groundwater extraction and utilization. So forexample Resource Monitor 264 may access External Database(s) 170 such asthose of public water extractors. For example, a state college mayoperate a well or wells and make available recorded measures of suchgroundwater extraction. Large private institutions may also providesimilar groundwater extraction measurement data. Such public and largeprivate institutions may in many instances have the largest number ofwells per property with the largest diameter, deepest bores and highestcapacity pumps. Such data may provide a GMA an accurate measure ofgroundwater extraction for that fraction (i.e., public and largeprivate) of overall groundwater basin utilization. Additionally, byacquiring, analyzing and recording historical groundwater data, ResourceMonitor 264 may derive a model of prior groundwater capacity andextraction and similarly synthesize a model(s) that may be utilized toestimate and forecast future groundwater capacity and extraction.

In some embodiments, Resource Monitor 264 may utilize telemetryfacilities to communicate with Sensor(s) 130 so as to configure, controland acquire data from such Sensor(s) 130 with which to further populateWAMP Database(s) 158. Utilizing increasingly common geo-locationfacilities incorporated in sensor devices, a WAMP 150 may integratesensor sourced data with map displays indicating the geographic locationof the corresponding Sensor(s) 130. Such Sensor(s) 130 may be mobilesuch that their position changes over time. Resource Monitor 264 mayfacilitate moving such mobile Sensor(s) 130—e.g., a miniature droneaircraft—from location to location. In some embodiments, mobileSensor(s) 130 may be semi- or fully autonomous. Time stamping andgeo-location information may perhaps be acquired, maybe mixed withsensor data, by Resource Monitor 264. In some embodiments, ResourceMonitor 264 may correlate acquired data from a plurality of Sensor(s)130 so as to synthesize a “virtual sensor” of larger scope (and perhapscapability) than any one individual Sensor 130.

In some instances, WAMP 150-acquired measurement data may bestatistically sufficient to support modeling by Resource Monitor 264that is credibly indicative of overall groundwater capacity and amountsof extraction. However, in GMA districts with a preponderance of privatewells—e.g., in rural/agricultural areas, such WAMP 150-acquiredmeasurement data may not be statistically sufficient—perhaps because thestatistical sample size is just too small. Therefore, in such GMAdistricts, a WAMP 150 may utilize Resource Monitor 264 to derivemeasures of private well groundwater extraction. In some instances,physical meters (i.e., Sensor(s) 130) may be attached to private wellsand the corresponding usage data imported to the GMA's WAMP Database(s)158. However, adding meters to wells may be a slow process—hampered bypolitical resistance as well as practical issues of complexity and cost.One need only consider attempts to meter water use of previouslyunmetered residential water users to get an idea of how difficult andtime consuming such a meter retro-fit may be. Consequently, ResourceMonitor 264 may utilize an ‘imputation engine’ capability (not shown) toderive (rather than physically meter) a measure of water extraction byan unmetered well (or group of unmetered wells). Such an imputationengine capability may be utilized by a GMA to either augment or tototally replace the requirement and cost of installing, maintaining andreading physical meters.

A WAMP 150 imputation engine may utilize numerous ‘imputation factors’(e.g., computational variables or constants) to derive measurements of agroundwater extraction and/or consumption related to a specific well (orgroup of wells). Such imputation factors may in part be sourced as datafrom Sensor(s) 130, External Database(s) 170 and WAMP Database(s) 158.In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may calibrate and otherwise verify thereliability of imputation engine derived measurements by measuring oneor more ‘imputation verification wells’ with both physical meters andthe derived measurement of the WAMP 150 imputation engine. By utilizingimputation verification wells in hydrologically differing areasthroughout a GMA's district, a WAMP 150 may be utilized to judge andtune the weighting of a given imputation factor and thereby improve theaccuracy of an imputation engine and refine its derived measurements tobest suit that particular GMA district. The results of comparisons ofimputation verification wells meter readings and imputation enginederived measurements may be recorded in WAMP Database(s) 150 and sharedas appropriate with regulators, GMA members and other districtstakeholders and thereby build community experience and trust with theGMA and the WAMP 150.

In some embodiments, a imputational factors utilized by a WAMP 150imputation engine may include but not be limited to:

-   -   Evapotranspiration:        -   Evapotranspiration data for specific crops in different            geographical areas. Note that evapotranspiration data are            published and readily accessible by one skilled in the art            of agriculture and/or climatology,        -   Crops (type) planted at each property,        -   Density of plantings per acre (estimated, measured or member            reported) for each property,        -   Total area of plantings of a given density,        -   Area of bare or fallow land (which generally may have a very            different evapotranspiration rate)        -   Age of trees and plantings (younger growing trees may have            different evapotranspiration rates relative to mature trees)    -   Weather including:        -   Precipitation,        -   Humidity,        -   Wind,        -   Temperature,        -   Sunshine hours,        -   Evaporation (often measured in mm/inches, calculated as the            drop in level of standing water in sunshine due to            evaporation)    -   Any evaporation/evapotranspiration mitigation, including        greenhouses, indoor hydroponics, and plastic covers (e.g., for        ground crops such as strawberries)    -   Irrigation type:        -   Above ground drip,        -   Sprinkler,        -   Flood,        -   Hydroponic,        -   Underground drip.    -   Soil type:        -   Clay        -   Sandy        -   Loam        -   Combination of the above types.    -   Soil moisture/salinity (monitoring devices may measure the water        in the soil and also the salinity.) Generally, if the soil is        salty, then plants typically need to absorb and transpirate more        water)    -   Surface water delivered (e.g., rivers, canals and pipelines)    -   As needed, farm channel water loss (more applicable when the        channels are not adjacent to the crops, since water from        adjacent channels tend to seep through the canal walls into the        crops, thereby watering them)    -   Size of property, e.g., total acreage, and    -   Percentage of property cultivated (planted).

In some instances, a given well may be metered but may lack a telemetrylink to a WAMP 150. In some embodiments, such a meter lacking atelemetry link may be read manually and that meter reading data may beuploaded to the WAMP 150. For example, such manually acquired meterreading data may be entered into a template such as a spreadsheet andthen uploaded to the WAMP 150—perhaps in comma separated value (CSV)file format.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 utilizing Resource Monitor 264 mayfacilitate a GMA to determine, analyze, manage, regulate, record andreport the state of water resources within the GMA'sdistrict—particularly groundwater, but also possibly surface water. AGMA may for example report details of its water resources to districtmembers and stakeholders, government regulatory agencies, and interestedorganizations such as universities and government researchorganizations.

A WAMP 150 may for instance utilize Resource Monitor 264 to synthesizemodel(s) of the complex subsurface conditions of a GMA district'sgroundwater basin. So for example, Resource Monitor 264 may analyzemeasurements of a groundwater basin to generate one or morethree-dimensional aquifer system model(s). Such three-dimensional modelsmay then be utilized by Resource Monitor 264 to simulate and measurecomplex sub-surface conditions within the basin. So for example,utilizing hydrological assessments made within the basin, ResourceMonitor 264 may facilitate a sustainability manager to adjust the basinmodel to incorporate various macro-level variables (such as maximumsustainable yield, inputs and outputs etc.) so as to determine morewidespread effective and efficient sustainable management practices forthe basin.

In some embodiments a WAMP 150 may utilize Resource Monitor 264 tomaintain sustainable groundwater yields facilitated by WAMP 150 ‘waterbalance modeling’. Water balance modeling may analyze and extrapolategroundwater extraction and use data—imputed as well as measured—toanalytically project water consumers needs (e.g., the volume of water anirrigator needs to keep his crop alive) and forecast potential futurechanges in groundwater sustainability. Such modeling is not static, butrather a highly dynamic set of facilities, whereby a sustainabilitymanager may revise models and/or update and filter data sets.Furthermore. Resource Monitor 264 may enable a sustainability manager tocompare prior water balance modeling forecasts to the correspondingrealized real world outcomes. Such comparison combined with re-runningof the water balance modeling with alterations to the modeling algorithmand or dataset, may facilitate a sustainability manager to evaluate,refine and calibrate WAMP 150 water balance modeling over time so as toget improved forecasts.

In some embodiments, WAMP 150 water balance modeling may be highlyscalable—from the entire district down to an individual property or evenan individual crop on a portion of one property. In fact, utilizingshared data from additional GMAs or third parties, water balancemodeling can be scaled up to a regional, statewide or even global scope.Water balance modeling may be scalable in other ways—a model may span aweek, a month, a season, a year or multiple years. For example, datafrom drought years may be utilized while skipping intervening wetteryears. Additionally, datasets utilized for modeling can be set toreflect expected future conditions—perhaps reflecting worst-case climatechange scenarios. Multiple incremental changes may be modeled yielding aspectrum of forecasts.

Consider for example a sustainability manager who wants to estimate thechange in groundwater extraction resulting from a change in the mix ofcrops a farmer grows. She can vary the hypothetical crop mix, maturityof trees in orchards, disease conditions, rainfall and climaticconditions and numerous other variables.

In some embodiments, Resource Monitor 264 may integrate economic factors(e.g., crop yields and commodity pricing) into water balance modeling soas to forecast economic consequences of various groundwater extractionand utilization scenarios. For instance, decreasing irrigation per acreof filbert nuts might decrease yields—however a smaller harvest in atight market might boost prices more than enough to compensate. Inaddition to experience-based scenario adjustments by a sustainabilitymanager, a WAMP 150 may automatically generate and model millions ofscenarios and rank those with exceptional outcomes for review by asustainability manager.

Resource Monitor 264 may integrate with numerous report generationfacilities of a WAMP 150 such that the predictive results of groundwaterbasin modeling, water balance modeling and/or economic modeling may bequantified in tables of selected data sets and visualized with powerfuleasy to comprehend graphics. Such an ability to translate results datato information comprehensible by lay-people may be critical to aid GMAstakeholders such as the filbert farmer, the farmer's neighbors, localpoliticians and community leaders to grasp the scope and urgency ofadjusting to changes in groundwater sustainability.

In some embodiments, a sustainability manager may configure ResourceMonitor 264 so as to set an action notification or notifications basedon comparison of real world measurements to water balance modelingforecasts, such that congruency between the two may be brought to themanager's attention. (See Activity Manager 269 description further belowfor a discussion of action notifications.)

In some embodiments, Water Accounter 266 may function as associative andanalytic nexus for data relating to a GMA's water resource management(e.g., consumption, conservation, regulation and revenuegeneration)—particularly as relates to groundwater, but possibly asrelates to surface water as well. Water Accounter 266 may utilize one ormore of WAMP Database(s) 158. Water Accounter 266 may facilitateservices related to water consumption, billing and reporting within aGMA's district where such services may be made apparent to a WAMP 150user via WAMP 150 facilitator(s) 241-246.

Water Accounter 266 may utilize Resource and Physical Plant Database252, Jurisdiction and Rights Database 251, User Database 254 and Weatherand Climate Database 253 to determine water consumption, conservation,water use patterns, availability, distribution, utilization, loss,quality and other water-resource related characteristics for a given GMAdistrict property or member, which may for example be utilized as asource of data for water balance modeling and/or for determining billingrates and/or fees.

Similar to Resource Monitor 264, Water Accounter 266 may in someembodiments of a WAMP 150 utilize an imputation engine capability tomeasure groundwater consumption from unmetered wells. To conceptuallydistinguish the two WAMP 150 facilities, Resource Monitor 264 may forexample be thought of as relating to the water resources of a GMA'sdistrict (e.g., how much water may be there and where, how much may beextracted and what it may be utilized for); whereas Water Accounter 266may for example be thought of as relating to the water consumptionwithin a GMA's district (e.g., how much water may be being extracted andconsumed and who may be consuming it). In some embodiments of a WAMP 150Resource Monitor 264 and Water Accounter 266 facilities may be logicallycombined. In fact, grouping and naming facilities of a WAMP 150 asdescribed herein may be intended to aid in understanding of the utilityof such facilities as opposed to any specific embodiment.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 utilizing Water Accounter 266 mayfacilitate a GMA to determine, analyze, manage, regulate, derive revenuefrom, record and report water consumption—particularly of groundwater,but also possibly surface water—on a property-by-property granularitywithin the GMA's district—but which may additionally be aggregated togive a broader perspective up to and including district-wide.

In addition to utilizing imputation engine capability, Water Accounter266 may utilize a WAMP 150 shared data access control engine capability.For example for a WAMP 150 utilized by a VGMA, the shared data accesscontrol engine may facilitate parallel secure billing facilities with agiven such facility—separately configurable and operable by each one ofthe constituent water management agencies within the VGMA such that theymay protect proprietary financial information.

A WAMP 150 Water Accounter 266 may in some embodiments utilize an‘external system interworking engine’ capability that may facilitateinteroperation with third party systems such as a CRM system and/or abusiness financials system. So for example, such an external systeminterworking engine may be utilized by a WAMP 150 to exportproperty-specific fee information to an incumbent business financialssystem utilized by a GMA. Such a business financials system may forexample utilize such property-specific fee information to prepareunified utility bills (e.g., water and electricity) or to calculatetaxes or perhaps a revenue split. Similar to an incumbent CRM system, abusiness financials system may be deeply integrated into the operationof a GMA and GMA staff may be trained on and loyal to such an incumbentbusiness financials system. However, a WAMP 150 may provide uniquefacilities—for example groundwater extraction fee calculation—that maynot be practically performed by such a business financials system. Insome instances, Water Accounter 266 may utilize an external systeminterworking engine to import data from a legacy operation systemperhaps on a repetitive basis, for example, to remain current on thestatus of GMA members' accounts. For example, a WAMP 150 may perhapsutilize an external system interworking engine to overlay a userinterface onto a business financials system so as to make it easier fora sustainability manager to navigate back and forth between the VGMA 150and the legacy business financials system. Or perhaps the data baserecord definitions of a business financials system may be augmented soas to support the operation of the WAMP 150 and minimize the utilizationof a WAMP 150 to manage the production and distribution of bills to aGMA's members. Water Accounter 266 may perhaps utilize data base recorddefinitions compliant with such a business financials system such thatmember records from such a business financials system may be more easilyimported and exported between a WAMP 150 and a business financialssystem.

In some embodiments, Water Marketer 268 may function as associative andanalytic nexus for data relating to a GMA's WAMP-150 facilitatedelectronic water rights exchange. Water Marketer 268 may utilize one ormore of WAMP Database(s) 158 including but not limited to Jurisdictionsand Rights Database 291, User Database 294 as well as Resource andPhysical Plant Database 292. Additionally, Water Marketer 268 mayutilize Weather and Climate Database 293—for example to analyze andpredict water demand.

In some embodiments, Water Marketer 268 may facilitate a GMA to createor facilitate a WAMP 150-facilitated water rights exchange for GMAmembers (and possibly third parties) to utilize to trade water rights ona temporary (i.e., lease) or permanent (i.e., sale) basis. Furthermore,Water Marketer 268 may utilize a WAMP 150 WER registry to pre-validateand record such water rights transfers. Additionally, Water Marketer 268may automatically enforce water rights trading rules configured by aGMA—for example to encourage groundwater sustainability.

A WAMP 150 in some embodiments may utilize Water Marketer 268 tofacilitate a GMA to plan, monitor, analyze, manage and report uponoperations of a WAMP 150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange.Water Marketer 268 for example provide GMA configured notifications andalerts when for example an important indicator threshold has beencrossed.

In some embodiments of a WAMP 150, Water Marketer 268 may utilize anexternal system interworking engine capability to facilitate a portalservice to external markets. Water Marketer 268 may provide a GMA accessto and perhaps share appropriate water rights data with one or morethird party water rights market facility (or perhaps commodityexchange(s)). Water Marketer 268 may perhaps facilitate a GMA itself totrade in water rights market(s) or to raise capital based on GMA-ownedor regulated water rights assets. Additionally, Water Marketer 268 mayprovide a GMA visibility into local, regional and/or global markets andmay therefore provide support for a GMA's pricing, fee and/orsustainability policies for in-basin water extraction and/or usage.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may utilize a combination ofsynergistically interworking WAMP 150 facilities to provide easy-to-usepowerful services to users of a GMA's WAMP 150. For example, a WAMP 150may utilize Resource Monitor 264 to model and analyze the GMA'sgroundwater basin and then utilize Water Marketer 268 to derive tradingrules for utilization in a WAMP 150-facilitated electronic water rightsexchange—perhaps managing transfers of water extraction rights betweenproperties in different zones. Further by example, 3-D modeling ofsub-surface conditions by Resource Monitor 264 may be utilized by WaterMarketer 268 to facilitate a sustainability manager to configure varioustrading regions within the GMA's jurisdiction (and possibly outside thatjurisdiction as well) and define corresponding rules which may governwater transfers within and/or between such trading regions.

In some embodiments, Activity Manager 269 may function as associativeand analytic nexus for data relating to a GMA's WAMP-150 facilitatedoperational activities and workflow. Activity Manager 269 may utilizeone or more of WAMP Database(s) 158 including but not limited toWorkflow Database 295, Jurisdictions and Rights Database 291, UserDatabase 294 and Resource and Physical Plant Database 292. Additionally,Activity Manager 269 may utilize Weather and Climate Database 293—forexample to anticipate changes in workflow due to weather and climacticimpact on water demand.

In some embodiments, a sustainability manager may utilize WAMP 150notification facilities, whereby a WAMP 150 may notify a sustainabilitymanager of a requirement for an action. Such an ‘action notification’may be scheduled by a sustainability manager, by a WAMP 150 or mayperhaps be triggered by an unscheduled event as determined by a WAMP150. Furthermore, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a sustainability manager tomanage action notifications. For example, a sustainability manager mayutilize WAMP 150 generated list(s) of pending action notifications aswell as action notifications that may have been delivered but perhapshave not yet acted upon.

In some instances, a sustainability manager and/or a WAMP 150 maydetermine a requirement to take an action or a series of related actionswhere such a requirement may not be immediate and where in someinstances it may be inappropriate to take such action immediately. Forexample, a farmer may pull a permit to drill a new well, but the actionto start monitoring (and perhaps billing for) groundwater extraction bythat well may not be taken until the well is completed and placed inservice. It is perhaps likely that many action notifications may cause asustainability manager to communicate and work with GMA members so as toaccomplish GMA goals.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a sustainability managerto annotate a given action notification to reflect completion of thecorresponding action, or other action taken (or perhaps canceled ordeferred). Furthermore, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a sustainabilitymanager to inspect, visualize or otherwise comprehend the quantity andnature of pending action notifications. So for example, a sustainabilitymanager may utilize a WAMP 150 calendar displaying date and time anddescriptions of scheduled action notifications. In some instances,individual action notifications displayed in such a calendar may becolor coded or otherwise marked for importance and/or urgency such thata sustainability manager may anticipate peaks and valleys in his or herpending workload. A WAMP 150 may perhaps set or update the urgency orthe importance attributed to a pending action notification; and/or aWAMP 150 facilitate a sustainability manager to do so.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a log ofdelivered action notifications (and any corresponding annotations) thatmay perhaps be organized to be displayed as a calendar as well.Additionally, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a sustainability managersmanagement of daily tasks by providing a list (or lists) of activeaction notifications (i.e., action notifications delivered by the WAMP150, but not yet designated as completed or otherwise deferred orcleared). In this way, a sustainability manager may be facilitated by aWAMP 150 to keep an eye on pending work load, organize day-to-dayactivity, and also be able to research past activity and determinationsby the WAMP 150 and by that sustainability manager and perhaps other GMAstaff. In some instances, an action notification may be utilized by asustainability manager to signal an occurrence that perhaps does notactually require an action by the sustainability manager, e.g., an FYI.

WAMP 150 action notifications may prove to be essential in the operationof a large and/or busy GMA such that staff workload can be visualizedand allocated effectively and in a timely fashion. In some embodiments,a WAMP 150 may facilitate a given GMA sustainability manager or otherdecision maker to direct WAMP 150 assignment and subsequent delivery ofan action notification to a sustainability manager or other GMA staffmember. In this way for example, a sustainability manager may distributetasks to subordinates and subsequently utilize the WAMP 150 to monitorthe status of those tasks.

In many work organizations, the overall effectiveness of theorganization depends on the individual initiative and productivity ofworkers. Increasingly, organizations expect and facilitate their workersto be self-enabling with the assistance of automated tools such as aWAMP 150. Therefore, in some embodiments a WAMP 150 may be providefacilities that may be custom configured by an individual sustainabilitymanager to best suit his or her work style. A key WAMP 150 facility formanaging the day-to-day work of a sustainability manager may be a WAMP150 dashboard.

In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate copying by asustainability manager of display elements from a given WAMP 150 displaypage onto that sustainability manager's WAMP 150 dashboard. Furthermore,such a copied display element may be an active display object—perhapsincluding XML or other active components—such that the copied displaymay change over time as changes occur to the data displayed by theactive display object—as may be understood by one skilled in the art.

In some embodiments, the facilities of a WAMP 150 may be utilized asSoftware as a Service (SAAS) where the WAMP Server 155 may be owned andoperated by a third party providing the “WAMP Service” to GMAs—i.e., asa “cloud service”. So for example, the WAMP 150 may be hosted on a faulttolerant WAMP Server 155 in a secure data center in North Dakota, whilethe GMA customers for the WAMP service may be located in anotherstate—say California. Multiple GMAs may thusly share the same WAMPServer 155. Each GMA's WAMP service may effectively run independently onthe shared WAMP Server 155 as if it were a dedicated server. Althoughutilizing the same server hardware, each GMA's data may be securelyprotected from accidental or intentional access by another GMA, or byanother GMA's property managers and other users, or by a third party.However, for instances of a VGMA, the data for multiple GMAsparticipating in that VGMA may be accessed and aggregated as appropriatefor the purposes of that VGMA with safeguards and restrictions on dataaccess and data utilization by a WAMP 150 shared data access controlengine as described previously. Additionally, data may be exported froma given GMA's WAMP Database(s) 158 and imported to another GMA's WAMPDatabase(s) 158—perhaps both on the same WAMP Server 155—in instanceswhen both such GMAs have appropriately configured such an exchange ofdata.

The following discussions and references to figures are provided toillustrate a set of exemplary scenarios for some embodiments of a WAMP150. The examples may include particular limitations which are unique tothe given example and are not intended to extend to the invention as awhole. Likewise, some examples may have been simplified in order to aidin clarity. It is understood that while the foregoing examples aid inexplanation and clarification of the present invention, these examplesdo not limit the scope or function of the present invention.

In some instances, graphic representations with the appearance ofscreenshots from a personal computer terminal screen may be provided byway of example to aid in the illustration of some embodiments. This isnot intended to imply that personal computer terminals are preferred tothe exclusion of other terminal device types. The exemplary displayscreen narrative that follows may exemplify the experience of asustainability manager user. Other user types may access displaysappropriate to their use and to their terminal devices; and thereforesuch displays may potentially differ in appearance and facilities fromthose displayed to a sustainability manager.

So, to provide an exemplary utilization of a cloud-accessible WAMP 150,let us consider a hypothetical sustainability manager—WallyWatermaster—who works for the Water Agency of Rogers Meadow (WARM), aCalifornia GMA.

Referring to FIG. 3, Wally sits at a laptop computer (i.e., a WAMPterminal 112) and navigates to a log-in page of a WAMP 150. Wally logsinto the WAMP 150 using his username 310 and login password 320. Uponlogging in, the WAMP 150 validates Wally's username and login password,which has been correctly entered.

Referring to FIG. 4, this generic WAMP 150 display page 400 provides anexample of the design template for most display pages of a WAMP 150.Such a WAMP 150 display page design template may be custom configuredfor a given GMA—e.g., for Water Agency of Rogers Meadow—and may evenhave the GMA's logo 415 at the top corner of the display pages.

Along the top of the generic display page 400 may be a navigation menutray 445 with a set of navigation menu tabs 420-440—the first in a setof hierarchically navigated menus. Each such navigation menu tab may be‘clicked’ (i.e., selected) to navigate to a corresponding family ofrelated display screens. The Home tab 420 may be used to navigate to aWAMP 150 display page in the Home page family (see FIG. 5 below). Othernavigation menu tabs may navigate to families of display pagescorresponding to facilitator(s) of an embodiment of a WAMP 150 (as shownin square brackets below). The additional navigation menu tabs mayinclude [and navigate to]:

-   -   Water Use tab 425->[Water Rights Registry Facilitator (WRRF) 241        and Transfer and Market Facilitator (TMF) 245],    -   Members tab 430->[Relationship Management Facilitator (RMF)        242],    -   Reports tab 435->[Basin/sub-basin Reporting Facilitator (BRF)        243], and    -   Billing tab 440->[Basin/sub-basin Billing Facilitator (BBF)        244].

A Groundwater Management Agency Formation Facilitator (GMAFF) 246 mayperhaps lack a navigation menu tab on such a screen top navigation menutray. A GMAFF 246 may be utilized for configuration and bring-up of aWAMP 150 and may be inappropriate for day-to-day utilization.Furthermore, a GMAFF 246 may potentially reconfigure operation of a WAMP150 and/or WAMP Database(s) 158 and therefore access to a GMAFF 246 mayneed to be carefully controlled and limited. So for example, a GMAFF 246may be accessed utilizing a privileged log-in as may be well understoodby one skilled in the art.

Below the navigation menu tray 445 may appear a submenu tray 410 thatmay facilitate additional granularity in navigation selection (i.e., thenext level down in the hierarchically navigated menus). Submenu tabs(not shown) populating a submenu tray 410 may vary depending on thenavigation menu tab selected above. Additionally, within some displaypages, a sub-submenu tray (not shown) may appear below a submenu tray(i.e., providing a third level in the hierarchically navigated menus).Sub-submenu tabs (not shown) populating a sub-submenu tray (not shown)similarly may vary depending on the navigation menu tab and submenu tabselected above. Furthermore, submenu tabs (not shown) and/or sub-submenutabs (not shown) populating a given tray may vary corresponding to theset of display functions of the given WAMP 150 display pages to whichthey facilitate navigation.

In some embodiments, a sustainability manager clicking on a givennavigation menu tab (i.e., 420-440) may automatically cause the WAMP 150to display the WAMP 150 display page previously selected by thesustainability manager utilizing that navigation menu tab. So forinstance, a sustainability manager may be able to “bounce” back andforth between WAMP 150 display pages simply by clicking on thecorresponding navigation menu tab.

Furthermore, in some embodiments, a sustainability manager may“double-click” (i.e., click twice quickly in succession) on a given tab(e.g., navigation menu tab, submenu tab or sub-submenu tab) which mayautomatically cause the WAMP 150 to display a pre-selected WAMP 150display page where such a pre-selection may be a WAMP 150 default or mayperhaps be user-configured by the sustainability manager.

Referring to FIG. 5, WAMP 150 displays Goto display page 500. Inaddition to the Goto submenu tab 510 which selects for Goto display page500, additional submenu tabs arrayed along the submenu tray may navigatewhen clicked to WAMP 150 display pages with the following functions insquare brackets:

-   -   Dashboard submenu tab 512->[selects WAMP 150 user-configurable        display page which may include news and information about        groundwater in California, individual member data, water supply        data, weather information as well as relevant water agency        information (meeting schedules, gatherings, teach-ins, etc).],    -   Zones submenu tab 514->[selects WAMP 150 display page for        managing portions of the GMA district by zones],    -   Action logs submenu tab 516->[selects WAMP 150 display page for        tracking and updating statuses of actions created by and/or        assigned to sustainability managers],    -   Weather submenu tab 518->[selects WAMP 150 display page for        obtaining weather information and related impacts on water        supplies], and    -   Account submenu tab 519->[selects WAMP 150 display page for        managing a sustainability manger's account including customizing        WAMP 150 display pages].

A WAMP 150 Goto display page 500 may display ‘quick navigation icons’representing clickable links that a sustainability manager user mayclick to navigate directly (and therefore quickly) to a specific displaypage. In some embodiments, a WAMP 150 may facilitate a sustainabilitymanager user to create a customized Goto display page 500 with quicknavigation icons configured by that user. In other embodiments, a WAMP150 may facilitate configuration of a Goto display page 500 that mayappear the same for all sustainability manager users. In someembodiments of a WAMP 150, a Goto display page 500 may have a defaultconfiguration of quick navigation icons.

In some embodiments, in instances where the number of quick navigationicons is too many to easily display on a screen (particularly a smallmobile device screen), a Goto display page 500 may provide a scroll bar(not shown) to access extended portions of the display page that may notbe immediately visible on the users display device screen as may befamiliar to one skilled in the art.

In this exemplary FIG. 5, Wally's Goto display page 500 displays sixquick navigation icons:

-   -   SGMA Reporting icon 560,    -   Search Members icon 565,    -   Upload Data icon 570,    -   Track Water Use icon 575,    -   Manage Billing icon 580, and    -   Download Data icon 585.

Wally has been contacted by one of his members, Grace Naito. Grace toldWally that she and her brother Tom intend to plant several hundred acresof new alfalfa on previously fallowed land. Wally is concerned about theimpact these new plantings will have on water demand relative to supply.He decides to investigate. The WAMP 150 so Wally clicks the Track WaterUse quick navigation icon 575.

Referring to FIGS. 6A, 6B and 6C, WAMP 150 displays Water Use by Membersdisplay page 600A/600B/600C. FIG. 6A shows the upper portion of the page600A (FIG. 6B shows an alternative upper portion 600B and FIG. 6C showsthe lower portion 600C). Utilizing sub-submenu tray 605 a in FIG. 6A,Wally may select from a number of different types of water useincluding: Members 610 a (currently selected), Turnouts, Wells, Crops,APNs (i.e., assessor's parcel numbers), Groups or Import Data—eachresulting in a different display page displaying WAMP 150 measurementand modeling of water use. Each water use type may utilize a differentfilter(s) to examine segments of water use determining the district'swater balance as scalably modeled for the GMA's district by the WAMP150.

So, for example, a sustainability manager can scale (not shown) waterbalance modeling to a scope larger than the GMA's district—i.e.,multi-district, regionally or even potentially globally. On the Gotopage 500, the Upload Data 570 and Download Data 585 quick navigationicons select facilities to exchange WAMP 150 data with other wateragencies' WAMP 150 s and/or External Database(s) 170 so as to facilitatesuch larger water balance modeling scalability.

Referring further to FIG. 6A, in this example, the Member sub-submenutab 610 a has been selected. The Water Use by Members display page600A/600C that Wally is viewing provides several display optionsselectable by display option tab. In this example, the Water RequiredTable 615 a has been selected. Other display option tabs are visiblewhich include: Crop Water Use (i.e., by crop) 625 a and Long Term Water(use) 630 a. The Water Required table 615 a has two columns: ImmediateEstimates 617 a and Forecast Estimates 640 a. The Water Required table615 a has labeled rows 619 a that include: Estimated Water Requirement,Estimated Evaporation, Forecast Rainfall, Minimum Temperature andMaximum Temperature. The Forecast Estimates column 640 a has sub-columnsfor the months May through October. The Irrigation Requirement Estimategraph 645 a displays a visual representation of the estimated waterrequirement (in acre feet) for the months May through Octobercorresponding to sub-row 642 a.

Referring to FIG. 6B, an exemplary alternative upper portion of theWater Use By Members page is displayed. Alternative upper portion 600Bdisplays Long Term Water table 630 b, which shows historical andforecasted groundwater vs. surface water use by member. Long Term Watertable 630 b has three columns: Estimated parcel water use 2015 (i.e.,for prior year) 620 b, Estimated parcel water use 2016 (i.e., forcurrent year) 640 b and Projected water use for 2017 (i.e., the comingyear) 650 b.

Referring to FIG. 6C, the lower portion of the Water Use By Members pageis displayed. Lower portion 600C displays a table of GMA members 650 cwith water use quantified corresponding to several differentcharacteristics: APNs, Crops and Wells. Other than in a trivialapplication, the GMA members table may be windowed so as to display asubset of members wherein the window can be adjusted to different areasof the GMA members table in a fashion that allows any given portion ofthe table to be visibly displayed. Several mechanisms are provided forpositioning the table window including a member search 652 c/680 c, aslider 685 c and a paging control panel 690 c. Such windowing of a largetable (or other large display) is a technique well understood by oneskilled in the art.

Scanning through the displayed portion of the GMA members table 650 c,Wally takes a closer look at the entry for GMA member Tom & Grace NaitoLLC 675 c, which like each such entry has several table fields. The APNsfield 655 c shows that the LLC owns 3 properties in the GMA'sjurisdiction (i.e., 3 APNs). The Wells field 665 c shows that the LLChas 2 wells. Wally surmises that two of the properties may be adjacentand share a well. But what catches Wally's eye and makes him curious isthe number of crops—10—shown in the Crops field 660 c. Wally wonderswhat the crops are and how they affect water use. Wally is alsointerested in knowing more about Tom & Grace Naito LLC and is tempted toclick the Goto CRM field button 670 c to look at the LLC's member data,but he decides instead to click the View 10 Crops button in field 660 cand look at their water use by crop.

Referring to FIGS. 7A and 7B, WAMP 150 displays Water Use by Cropsdisplay page 700A/700B. FIG. 7A shows the upper portion of the page 700A(and FIG. 7B shows the lower portion 700B). The Water Use by Crops page700A/700B offers several display options selectable by display optiontab. In this example, the Crop Water Use Table 705 a has been selected.Other display options tabs are visible that include: Map, Water Requiredand Long Term Water (use). The Crop Water Use Table 705 a has threemajor columns: Crop 715 a, Immediate Estimates 730 a and ForecastEstimates 740 a. Under Crop 715 a, the table indicates the type isAlfalfa 717 a and the area (of alfalfa) is 1234.5 (acres) 718 a. UnderImmediate Estimates 730 a, the table shows estimated water use for ThisWeek is 173.3 (acre-feet) 719 a and under Forecast Estimates 740 a theestimate for the month of May is 717.6 (acre-feet) 745 a. Below CropWater Use Table 705 a, a corresponding graph 725 a visually representsestimated water use for the week and the month—corresponding to wateruse estimates 719 a and 745 a respectively. These real-life water usenumbers for alfalfa can be used to estimate the water use of the Naito'snew alfalfa. Even if the Naitos were not already growing alfalfa, wateruse figures for a neighbor's alfalfa might be used instead.

Referring to FIG. 7B, the lower portion of the Water Use By Cropsdisplay page is displayed. Lower portion 700B displays a table 750 b ofGMA members producing the same crop as quantified in the Crop Water UseTable 705 a in upper portion of the Water Use By Crops display page700A—i.e., Alfalfa in this example. Each table entry includesinformation about a member producing that crop including: Member, APN,Crop, Acres, Plant (date) and Pull (date). The first entry 755 b in thetable 750 b is for Tom & Grace Naito LLC. The number of entries 760 b intable 750 b is 311. Therefore the display size of table 750 b is notlarge enough to display all the entries at once. A slide control 780 bis provided to window the table 750 b. A paging control panel 790 b isprovided as well.

Referring again to FIG. 7A, Wally clicks on the APNs sub-submenu tab 720a to have a look at Water Use by APNs for Tom & Grace Naito LLC.

In this example, Wally does not need to type in the APN because WAMP150, in some embodiments, automatically determines the APN for Tom &Grace Naito LLC (based on prior View 10 Crops selection 660 c) anddisplays the corresponding data.

Referring to FIGS. 8A and 8B, WAMP 150 displays Water Use by APNsdisplay page 800A/800B. FIG. 8A shows the upper portion of the page 800A(and FIG. 8B shows the lower portion 800B). The Water Use by APNsdisplay page 800A/800B offers several display options selectable bydisplay option tab. In this example, the Crop Water Use Table 810 a hasbeen selected. Other display options tabs are visible that include: Map,Water Required and Long Term Water (use). The Crop Water Use Table 810 ahas the same organization as the Crop Water Use Table 705 a in FIG. 7a—however, instead of displaying data for one selected crop, the table810 a contains entries for each of the crops grown on the propertycorresponding to the selected APN (not shown)—in this example, APN023-230-004 for Tom & Grace Naito LLC. The display size of the CropWater Use Table 810 a is not large enough to display all the tableentries at once. Therefore, a slide control 845 a is provided to windowthe table 810 a (as described previously for table 650 b in FIG. 6B).Just below the Crop Water Use Table 810 a is a corresponding bar graph820 a that visually represents estimated water use—both for the week andfor the month—corresponding to each crop entry in the Crop Water UseTable 810 a—in this example, 10 crops. This graph gives Wally a goodoverview of the crops Tom & Grace Naito LLC have selected and how muchwater use may be associated by the WAMP 150 with each of those crops.

Referring to FIG. 8B, the lower portion of the Water Use By APNs displaypage is displayed. Lower portion 800B displays a table 850 b of GMAmembers producing the same crops as quantified in the Crop Water UseTable 815 a in upper portion of the Water Use By APNs display page800A—i.e., 10 crops in this example. Each table entry includesinformation about a member producing one of those crops including:Member, APN, Crop, Acres, Plant (date) and Pull (date). The first entry855 b in the table 850 b is for Tom & Grace Naito LLC. The number ofentries 860 b in table 850 b is 947—more than can be displayedpractically at once. A paging control 890 b and/or a slide control 880 bprovide display windowing controls for the table 850 b.

Referring again to FIG. 8A, Wally clicks on the Groups sub-submenu tab825 a to navigate to the Water Use by Property Groups page 900A/900Bshown in FIGS. 9A and 9B. Wally knows that the Naitos share use of theirwells with two other farmers and he is thinking about creating aproperty group including Tom & Grace Naito LLC's properties and thosetwo other farmer's properties. The group—perhaps named “Naito's wellusers”—may allow Wally to conveniently pull water use reports for allthe properties using the Naito's wells.

Referring to FIGS. 9A and 9B, WAMP 150 displays Water Use by PropertyGroups display page 900A/900B, which shows data for a given propertygroup created by a sustainability manager. Such a property group mayinclude any set of property accounts a sustainability manager chooses.In essence property groups provide a sustainability manager a highlyadaptable and convenient mechanism to associate properties. FIG. 9Ashows the upper portion of the Water Use by Property Groups display page900A (and FIG. 9B shows the lower portion 900B). The Water Use by Groupsdisplay page 900A/900B is organized very similar to the preceding wateruse pages. As with those pages, the Water Use by Groups display page900A/900B offers several display options selectable by display optiontab. In this example, the Crop Water Use Table 920 a has been selected.Other display options tabs are visible that include: Map, Water Requiredand Long Term Water (use). The Crop Water Use Table 920 a is organizedwith the same columns as the Crop Water Use Table 615 a utilized in theWater Use by Members display page 600 a. However, the entries in thetable 920 a in this instance are for the crops grown on the propertiesin the selected property group. And again, similar to Water Use byMembers Page 600 a, a graph 935 a is displayed below the Crop Water UseTable 920 a that visually presents the weekly and monthly water useestimates displayed in table 920 a. In this instance the Crop Water UseTable 920 a and the corresponding graph 935 a are not populated becauseWally has not yet selected a property group to display.

Referring to FIG. 9B, the lower portion of the Water Use By PropertyGroups page is displayed. Lower portion 900B displays a table 970 b ofGMA members. Wally can display information for the set of properties ina given property group by entering the property groups' nickname in thesearch window 975 b and then searching for it by clicking Search button979 b. Other search options are supported for table 970 b including: by(Group) Name, by Member (name) and by APN. In some instances, a PropertyGroup may correspond to a single member, for example a farmer whoincorporates a portion of his farm for liability protection might beProperty Group: “Fred Smith Farms Corporation”.

Referring to FIG. 10, Wally decides to create a new property group forthe Naitos and their neighbors sharing water from the Naitos' wells. Theboundary mapping tool 1000A provides Wally a convenient way to selectthe properties to include in the new property group. Wally starts bybringing the Naito's property up in the tool's map image. A mover 1020and magnifier 1025 may be used to position and zoom respectively.Additionally, once the additional properties are selected, Wally mayclick on, view and edit (not shown) property information for anyproperty in the property group. So using the tool 1000A, Wally locatesand outlines the Naitos' and the well sharing neighbors' properties1030. He then types the new nickname—“Naito Share”—into the Nickname box1010 and the new group name—“Naito's well users” into the Group name box1015. He saves the new property group by clicking the Save button 1040.The WAMP 150 automatically associates the information for the includedproperty accounts with the new property group. So next time, Wally cannow check out the water use for all the properties at once using WaterUse by Property Groups page 900A/900B and the property group nickname:Naito Share.

Wally is curious about some of the other wells on properties borderingthe Naitos. Referring again to FIG. 9, Wally clicks Wells sub-submenutab 925 a.

Referring to FIGS. 11A and 11B, WAMP 150 displays the Water Use by Wellsdisplay page 1100A/1100B, which displays a user-scalable aerial map ofdistrict wells 1120 a/b. As shown in FIG. 11A, the map 1120 a is scaledto show a district-wide view. Wally can use the WAMP 150 to narrow theview to show just the properties immediately adjacent to the Naitos orto just one property (not shown). Each “Well Balloon” on the map 1120a/b indicates the location of a well—for example Well Balloon 1140 a/b.Each Well Balloon is a clickable link. Referring to FIG. 11B, clickingon Well Balloon 1140 a/b causes the WAMP 150 to display informationabout that well 1160 b as well as property account (and/or propertygroup) information corresponding to that well and in some embodimentsprovides navigation links (not shown) to water use pages such as theWater Use By Members Page 600A/600B.

Referring to FIG. 12, WAMP 150 displays the Water Use by Turnoutsdisplay page 1200, which displays a user-scalable aerial map of districtwater turnouts 1230 that is equivalent to Water Use by Wells Page 1100except that surface water turnouts are displayed rather than wells. EachTurnout Balloon on the map 1230 indicates the location of a turnout—forexample Turnout Balloon 1250. Clicking on a Turnout Balloon causes theWAMP 150 to display information (not shown) about that turnout as wellas to display property account (and or property group) information (notshown) corresponding to that turnout and in some embodiments providesnavigation links (not shown) to water use pages such as the Water Use ByMembers Page 600A/600B.

Wally's GMA district—WARM—overlaps an area historically supplied withsurface water by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). From time to time,new turnouts are added to the USBR's distribution system and reflectedin their database. Wally decides to update the WAMP Database(s) 158 tomatch the latest turnout data from the USBR in WARM's district. Wallyclicks the Import Data sub-submenu tab 1270.

Referring to FIGS. 13A and 13B, WAMP 150 displays Import Data displaypage 1300A/1300B, which facilitates a sustainability manager to importdata from third parties. Additionally, in some embodiments, a WAMP 150may support (not shown) numerous data formats (including but not limitedto CSV files) either by explicit configuration or auto-detecting theformat type. For instance, a sustainability manager can download atemplate (not shown), with the header names indicating what data toinclude, and then upload the same file once the remote data source haspopulated the template with their data (not shown). Referring to FIG.13A, Wally has to select a upload type utilizing the Upload Type dropdown menu 1310 a. Wally clicks on drop down menu 1310 a. Referring toFIG. 13B, Wally chooses the Turnout upload type 1315 b. Referring againto FIG. 13A, Wally clicks on the Choose File button 1325 a in the SelectFile to Upload input box 1320 a. Wally then selects the turnoutconnections data file (not shown) to import from the USBR database,which may then be uploaded to the WAMP 150 once Wally clicks the UploadFile button 1330 a.

Having utilized the WAMP 150 to thoroughly research the Naitos' andother members historical and current water use—particularly as appliesto Alfalfa, Wally utilizes the WAMP 150 to determine how much additionalwater the Naitos will need to extract from the groundwater basin (notshown). Based upon the WAMP 150 analysis of the Naito's sources of watersupply (i.e., wells and turnouts) and assuming this new Alfalfa crop isadded and everything else remains the same, the WAMP 150 provides Wallythe information he needs—i.e., if the new plantings are made and nowater rights are transferred, projected extractions will be abovesustainability caps (not shown).

Now that Wally realizes that the Naitos will have to purchase water fromother members in order to plant their new alfalfa, he wonders whatimpact this repurposed groundwater use will have on the economicproduction of the district.

Referring to FIG. 14, Wally selects a commodity production report toview (see 1440) utilizing the Advanced Reports display page 1400 of theWAMP 150. This report (not shown) takes the area under production foreach crop and the prevailing commodity prices to estimate the grossvalue of irrigated product. The water balance modeling tool has aneconomic forecasting facility (not shown). Utilizing the economicforecasting facility of WAMP 150 water balance modeling, Wally canrepeatedly model move water from one crop type to some other crop typeand for each change the WAMP 150 water balance modeling automaticallydetermines the economic optimal change in water resources for theremaining crop types (not shown).

Wally generates a forecasting report showing the result of the WAMP 150water balance modeling (not shown). The forecasting report demonstratesthat the new alfalfa plantings can increase the overall economicproduction of the GMA district if the water is purchased from pistachioand tomato growers. Wally knows that the pistachio and tomato growersare cutting back on production due to highly competitive imports; and hehopes the water sales will help their bottom lines as they switch to newcrops. The forecasting report also tells Wally that the Naitos' newalfalfa plantings may put the district's economy further at risk to afall in the alfalfa price due to concentration of alfalfa as apercentage of overall production. Utilizing the WAMP 150, Wallypublishes the report for GMA-internal distribution (not shown).

While dwelling on the GMA's new sustainability concern regarding theNaitos, Wally decides to review how his district is performing overallagainst its sustainability goals in its Groundwater Sustainability Planfor the Sustainability Groundwater Management Act (“SGMA”). Wally knowsthe annual report to the DWR has been scheduled to be sent out. Hedecides to have a look at the report.

Referring to FIG. 15, WAMP 150 displays Reports display page 1500. Inthe left hand column, Wally may choose to generate a new SGMA reportutilizing the SGMA reports menu 1520—where a WAMP 150 generating a givenSGMA report may utilize a pre-configured SGMA report form template,wherein the template may be filled in correctly by WAMP 150 with datagenerated by WAMP 150 analytics such that the SGMA report is ready toview and/or to file with the California Department of Water Resources(DWR). Or lower in the left hand column, he may choose to view orreschedule a given SGMA report utilizing the Report Schedule menu 1525.In the right hand column, Wally may choose to generate a WAMP 150 reportutilizing the WAMP Reports menu 1540—such a report may for instance showthe water balance as modeled, groundwater use by member, crop andproperty, etc. Lower in the right hand column, he may choose generate agroundwater report utilizing the Generate GW Report menu 1545.

Visually scanning the Report Schedule menu 1525, Wally locates theAnnual Report to DWR 1570. Wally confirms the report is scheduled tomeet the due date—April 1—and knows that the WAMP 150 will generate thereport to the DWR automatically. To do so, the WAMP 150 may utilize areport template provided by the California DWR and automaticallypopulate fields within that template utilizing the WAMP Database(s) 158data and WAMP 150 water balance modeling results.

Periodically Wally utilizes the WAMP 150 to generate a total waterdiversion and extraction report for the GMA (not shown). Such a reportmay provide a macro view of all the groundwater use in the district.Furthermore, Wally may have the option to display how individual usagedata for certain members compares to the average, median, mode,percentile, etc. for the district as a whole (not shown). Scanning theGenerate GW Report Menu 1545, Wally clicks on the Total water diversionand extraction report link 1590. Studying the charts and tables of thelatest WAMP 150 water balance modeling shown in the report, Wally seesthat the total extractions for the district are within the targets setby the Groundwater Sustainability Plan (not shown). Wally wants to sharethis around the office so he utilizes the WAMP 150 to save the versionof the report he just generated and publish it within the GMA (notshown), This makes the new water diversion and extraction reportavailable to other sustainability managers. They may access it utilizingthe Reports display page 1500 where it can be selected and viewed alongwith other published reports utilizing the Select Report drop-down menu1580 in the WAMP Reports menu 1540.

Wally also wants to share the new water diversion and extraction reportwith his Board of Directors. Based on their contact information in theWAMP Database(s) 158, Wally utilizes the member contact facilities ofthe WAMP 150 to email the report to each of the Directors (not shown).He does the same with the Annual Report to DWR and the reportforecasting the Naitos' new water needs. He knows the Naito issue willlikely come to their attention and he wants them to be prepared.

Earlier in the morning Wally had spoken with a new Director, TomCourtney. Tom has just moved into the district and might not yet be inthe WAMP Database(s) 158. So Wally decides to check. Referring to FIG.16, Wally navigates to the Member Search display page 1600. He searchesfor Tom in the members contacts by typing “Tom Courtney” in the MemberSearch name entry box 1630. In some embodiments, the WAMP 150 looks fordirect match(es) to “Tom” or “Courtney” or alternative spellings (e.g.,Thomas) or possible misspellings (e.g., Tim). “Tom Courtney” does notcome up in the WAMP 150 member search, but by coincidence anotherTom—Tom Naito—does 1640. With no exact matches, the WAMP 150automatically alters the submenu tray 1610 by adding an Add New Membersubmenu tab 1620. By waiting to display the Add New Member submenu tab1620 until after a member search has been attempted, the WAMP 150significantly reduces the number of duplicate member entries. Wallyclicks submenu tab 1620 to create a new WAMP 150 member contact recordfor Tom.

Referring to FIGS. 17A and 17B WAMP 150 displays Member Contact displaypage 1700A/1700B. FIG. 17A shows the upper portion of the page 1700A(FIG. 17B shows the lower portion 1700B). Referring to FIG. 17A, Wallyadds Tom Courtney as a new member by typing in his contact details intothe Contact Details entry subscreen 1720 a. Referring to FIG. 17B, Wallyadds a note in entry subscreen 1780 b so other sustainability managerswill know Tom is on the GMA's board of directors.

Next Wally wants to check to see if the Naitos have already acquiredadditional water rights utilizing the WAMP 150-facilitated electronicwater rights exchange.

Referring to FIG. 18, WAMP 150 displays the Overview display page 1800for the WAMP 150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange. In theright hand column, Wally scans the Recent Transfers display list 1810.He sees that there are two water rights lease purchases 1835 and 1845 bythe Naitos that have been entered into WAMP 150 processing.

Referring to FIG. 19, in order to acquire additional water rights, GMAmember Tom Naito utilized the WAMP 150-facilitated electronic waterrights exchange from his tablet computer (see FIG. 1, 191). Tomnavigated to the Market Platform display page 1900 of the WAMP 150members web site. (In some embodiments, a mobile App may be utilized).Tom found two water rights lease offers that met his requirements andpurchased them both—one for 284 acre feet 1950 and one for 845 acre feet1970. Had he not found an offer that was acceptable, Tom could haveplaced a lease order on the market with a set price and volume andreceived a notification from the WAMP 150 when a matching offer to leasewas found or when a GWR seller chose to accept Tom's offer on the WAMP150-facilitated electronic water rights exchange and to lease GWRs atTom's offering price (not shown).

Wally earlier used the WAMP 150 to set up water market trading rules sothat whenever someone made a trade between zones it would need Wally'sapproval to be processed by the WAMP 150. Wally had set it up this wayto make sure that there was never a case where more water wastransferred out of a zone than the aquifers could sustainably support.

Referring back to FIG. 18, the sellers of the water leases that TomNaito purchased each were in different zones 1830 and 1840 within theGMA's jurisdiction than the zone for the Naito's properties andtherefore the leases need Wally's approval.

Referring to FIGS. 20A and 20B, WAMP 150 displays the Market Platformdisplay page 2000A/B for the WAMP 150-facilitated electronic waterrights exchange. Referring to FIG. 20A, Wally is confident that thetrades meet sustainability requirements and therefore clicks theTransfer button 2080 a on each of the trade records to approve thetrades. Upon Wally's approval of the trades, electronic notificationsare automatically sent to the Naitos and also to each of the sellers tolet them know the leased transfer of water rights has been approved andmade. Additionally, appropriate third parties are notified. And ofcourse the WER registry is updated automatically for both the Naitos andthe sellers to reflect the transfers of water rights. Referring to FIG.20B, in some embodiments a sustainability manager may utilize the WAMP150 to place a water extraction rights trade on the WAMP 150-facilitatedelectronic water rights exchange—perhaps to assist a member who lackscomputer access at the time of such a trade.

Referring to FIG. 21, Wally can double check the transfer rules bynavigating to the WAMP 150 Transfer Zone Management display page 2100.In some embodiments, Wally can configure the WAMP 150 to automaticallyenforce the transfer rules—perhaps when the trade volume goes way up, orwhen Wally is on vacation. Wally can change individual transfer rulesutilizing the Transfer Rules table 2130. For example, he can click onthe transfer rule toggle button 2150 for transfers from the South zoneto the Yolo zone with each click toggling the setting for the rule. Sofor example, a single click may change the rule from “Closed” to “Open”.

Referring to FIGS. 22A and 22B, WAMP 150 displays the Overview displaypage 2200A/2200B for the WAMP 150 WER registry. FIG. 22A shows thepage's upper portion 2200A (FIG. 22B shows the lower portion 2200B).Referring to FIG. 22A, Wally looks for the updates to the WER Registrythat he just approved. Since they just happened, he simply picksDealings in the Last 30 Days 2220a in the Registry search array.Referring to FIG. 22B, Wally immediately spots the two approved WERRegistry updates 2270 b and 2280 b at the top of the Recent Registryactions list.

Referring to FIGS. 23A and 23B, Referring to FIG. 23A, Wally navigatesto the GWR List display page 2300A where entries 2310 a and 2320 a forthe Naito's newly approved trades appear. Wally clicks the correspondingGoto CRM button 2340 a. Referring to FIG. 23B, in some embodiments, aGWR List display page 2300B may facilitate a boundary mapping tool 2345b for utilization by a sustainability manager in a GWR search.

Referring to FIG. 24, Wally navigates to the Members GWR display page2400 where he checks the Naitos' groundwater rights to verify that thenew GWRs just acquired by the Naitos are listed. He sees the GWRs: 2470and 2480 on their account. He then clicks on the Well Balloon button2490 to bring up the WAMP 150 forecast for the Naito's water use.Depending on the well, WAMP 150 may utilize measured water use if thewell is metered, or WAMP 150-imputed water use if it is unmetered. Asustainability manager may compare actual water use data with theforecasted results from WAMP 150 water balance modeling (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 25, Wally navigates to the WAMP 150 Virtual Meterdisplay subpage 2500 where he may view an estimate 2560 of the Naito'swater use for the remainder of the year. Wally may also adjust thisestimate for different rainfall and climatic conditions (not shown).Through this estimate 2560, the WAMP 150 shows that the Naitos shouldnow have enough water rights for the rest of the water year.

Next, Wally navigates from the Naitos' membership account to theregistry system and downloads an official statement of the Naitos'current water right volume.

Referring to FIGS. 26A, 26B and 26C, WAMP 150 displays a GWR displaypage 2600A/2600B/2600C. FIG. 26A shows the page's upper portion 2600A(FIG. 26B shows an alternative upper portion 2600B and FIG. 26C showsthe lower portion 2600C). Referring to FIG. 26A, WAMP 150 displays a GWRNo. 547841 display page 2600A for the WAMP 150-facilitated electronicwater rights exchange by the Naitos. Wally views the Naitos' currentwater right allocation 2620 a. Wally attaches this information to anemail and sends it to the Naitos letting them know that they now likelyhave enough water rights to see them through the rest of the year (notshown). Referring to FIG. 26B, in some embodiments a sustainabilitymanager may utilize the WAMP 150 to display property account detailscorresponding to the transferee or to the transferor of GWRs.

Referring to FIG. 27, Wally makes a note in the Add CRM Comment displaysubpage 2700 on the Naitos' member account in the contact notes section(not shown). The text 2750 of the note says that Wally checked out theaccount and everything should be fine this water year. Although he doesnot use it for this note, Wally has the option to share his note withother sustainability managers and/or to create an action notificationfor himself utilizing respectively: the Share selector button 2760 andthe Add Action selector button 2770. Wally then clicks the Submit button2790 to add the note to Naitos' member account.

Sometime ago, the Naitos legally transferred interest in theirproperties, including water extraction rights to a limited liabilitycompany (LLC). Many farming families who have property (and/or othervaluable assets) are taking similar legal actions to protect theirestates from exposure to law suits or simply from probate. Some familieshave transferred their interest into a trust or trusts, others haveadopted various forms of joint ownership such as joint tenancy. Othersutilize corporations. In some instances, the original family manages thefictitious legal entity that holds their property. In other instances,third parties such as trustees are the managers. In some instances,property interests are legally seized or enjoined. The WAMP 150facilitates creating or updating a GMA's WAMP 150 records (e.g.,property accounts, WER registry, etc.) to reflect ownership or controlof interests by groups of persons or legal entities.

Referring to FIGS. 28A and 28B WAMP 150 displays the Interests displaypage 2800A/2800B for the WAMP 150. FIG. 28A shows the page's upperportion 2800A (FIG. 28B shows the lower portion 2800B). Referring toFIG. 28A, a Select Record subpage 2810 a facilitates selecting a WAMP150 record to create or update to reflect the interests being added. Arecord type selection bar 2820 a displays radio buttons corresponding toWAMP 150 record types. For this exemplary Interests display page 2800A,property record type 2828 a is shown selected. Alternative selectionsinclude Member record type 2824 a and GWR record type 2826 a.

Based on the record type selected, Interests display page 2800A maydisplay a Search box 2830 a that facilitates finding a specific recordof the selected type to apply interest updates to. In this exemplaryInterests display page 2800A, a Search box 2830 a organized andformatted specifically for a property record search is displayed. Shouldthe sustainability manager select a different type of record type toapply interest to, the Search box 2830 a may be replaced by acorresponding alternatively organized and formatted search box.

To illustrate use of this exemplary Interests display page 2800A/2800B,let us assume that GMA member Albert Tesla is leasing his farm to JudithJedson. Wally selects the property record type radio button 2828 a toselect the record type to apply interest to. The corresponding Searchbox 2830 a for property account records is displayed. Wally may fill inone or more fields in the Search Box 2830 a before clicking the Searchbutton 2839 a to initiate the record search by the WAMP 150. Forexample, Wally may type the appraiser's parcel number (APN#) of Albert'sfarm into the APN box 2835 a and click the Search button 2839 a tolocate and access the WAMP 150 property account record corresponding toAlbert's farm.

After Wally clicks the Search button 2839 a, the WAMP 150 may display acorresponding search result entry (or entries) in the Results table 2840a. In some embodiments, each Results table entry may be a clickable linkto a corresponding search-matched record as may be apparent to oneskilled in the art. In this instance, there may be only one Resultstable entry (not shown) corresponding to the APN#, but in otherinstances multiple Results table entries may be displayed by a WAMP 150.A sustainability manager may click on a Results table entry that isrecognizable as correct (or failing that, choose arbitrarily and clickon a Results table entry in a relatively quick process of trial anderror). In some embodiments, if the WAMP 150 search results in no match,a “Create a new record” result/link (not shown) may be displayed in theResults table 2820 a.

Referring to FIG. 2800B, with a selection of a record type to applyinterest to and the selection of such a record, Apply Interests subpage2850 b may be displayed.

Within Apply Interests subpage 2850 b, a interest type selection bar2860 a displays radio buttons corresponding to WAMP 150 propertyinterest types. For this exemplary Interests page 2800B, interest typeLease 2865 b is shown selected.

The format and organization of the Apply Interests subpage 2850 b mayvary with the record type to apply interest to that was selected inrecord type selection bar 2810 a. In exemplary Interests display page2800B, the Apply Interests subpage 2850 b shown is thereforecorrespondingly organized and formatted for applying an interest to aWAMP 150 property account record. Furthermore, portions of the ApplyInterests subpage 2850 b may vary additionally based on the propertyinterest type selected in interest type selection bar 2860 b.

In exemplary Interests display page 2800B, three entry subpages aredisplayed based on selection of the Lease interest type 2865 b: PropertyDetails subpage 2870 b, Details of Lessor 2880 b and Details of Lessee2890 b. In some embodiments, the WAMP 150 may automatically populate thedisplayed fields of Property Details subpage 2870 b based on the Resultentry selected from Results table 2840 a. Additionally, search entryboxes 2885 b and 2895 b facilitate auto-population of Details of Lessor2880 b and Details of Lessee 2890 b subpages respectively. Upon fillingin fields of Property Details 2870 b, Details of Lessor 2880 b andDetails of Lessee 2890 b subpages, clicking the Start Action button 2899b may cause the thusly described property interest to be applied to theproperty account record (not shown) selected from the Results table 2840a and a “registration of lease” action notification added for therequired change to the WER registry.

Referring to FIGS. 29A and 29B WAMP 150 displays the Registry Actiondisplay page 2900A/2900B for the WAMP 150. FIG. 29A shows the page'supper portion 2900A (FIG. 29B shows the lower portion 2900B). Referringto FIG. 29A, WAMP 150 displays a Registration of Lease 2910 a for theNaitos' just completed water extraction right lease 2920 a. Referring toFIG. 29B, WAMP 150 displays a Documents table 2960 b containing links tosupporting documents for the Naitos' water extraction right lease 2920a.

Referring to FIG. 30, a Registry Documents Repository display page 3000is shown. A sustainability manager may upload new documents by clickingon Upload Document button 3020 and entering a file name (not shown). TheWAMP 150 supports numerous document and image formats including, but notlimited to: .TXT, .RTF, .DOCX, .PDF, and .JPEG. A sustainability managermay locate a document stored in the WER registry by clicking on QuickSearch button 3030 and entering a search term in a search entry box (notshown). A document listed as an entry in the Documents table 3040 may beopened by clicking on the entry link in the table 3050 for thatdocument.

Having wrapped up his tasks related to the Naitos, Wally wants to take alook at the overall activity and performance of his GMA. Rather thannavigate through several individual WAMP 150 display pages, Wallyutilizes his WAMP 150 custom configurable dashboard where he hasaccumulated and arranged key WAMP 150 indicators of the operation of hisGMA so he can get a quick overview of the GMA's business with a quickvisual scan.

Referring to FIGS. 31A and 31B WAMP 150 displays the Dashboard displaypage 3100A/3100B for the WAMP 150. FIG. 31A shows the Dashboard page'supper portion 3100A (FIG. 31B shows the lower portion 3100B). Referringto FIG. 31A, Wally quickly scans the display elements that he currentlyhas assembled on his dashboard. First he checks the GW Extraction graph3105 a that represents the ongoing results of the WAMP 150 water balancemodeling. Wally is particularly interested and concerned about the righthand side of the graph 3110 a where projected future water use isquantified. The warmer and more sunny growing season is approaching andhe knows meeting sustainability goals will become more of a challenge asrainfall decreases and evapotranspiration increases.

Next Wally looks at the Communications Actions table 3115 a, whichserves effectively as a to-do list for member outreach. He sees hisaction notification to himself 3117 a to call Grace Naito, which in someembodiments may be a clickable link that may navigate for example to aWAMP 150 display page for the Naito's member account. Wally gazes nextat the SGMA Report Schedule table 3125 a, the upcoming annual report tothe DWR 3128 a is a constant reminder to Wally that his efforts havereal consequences.

The Billing Summary 3120 a also is a to-do list of sorts. Wally seesthat the 14 days overdue numbers 3124 a are creeping up. Many farmersare stressed by rising water costs and increased competition.

Referring to FIG. 31B, Wally takes a quick moment of satisfaction as henotes that the Naitos' water lease no longer appears in the PendingRegistry Actions list 3160 b (a filtered list of action notificationsspecific to WER registry changes), because he cleared it personally.Finally, Wally ponders the Recently Saved Reports table 3170 a with bothrelief and some trepidation. He has several of the most pressing reportsdone, but he knows he also has three more reports to review and publish.

Referring again to FIG. 31A, Wally glances at the Customize Dashboardbutton 3108 a. He knows that he wants to reconfigure his dashboard togive him quicker visibility into overdue accounts, but decides he'llwork on that from home after dinner tonight. Instead, Wally clicks theGoto Billing button 3122 a and proceeds to look into billing.

Referring to FIGS. 32A and 32B WAMP 150 displays the Invoices displaypage 3200A/3200B for WAMP 150 Billing. FIG. 32A shows the Invoicesdisplay page's upper portion 3200A (FIG. 32B shows the lower portion3200B). Referring to FIG. 32A, Wally takes a quick look at CurrentInvoices total 3220 a—i.e., the total amount that will be billed in thebilling run. Furthermore, Wally knows that he may utilize the WAMP 150to view the exact billing lines that may be included in that billing run(not shown). He sees that it is slightly higher than last month, whichis what he expected. He knows that it will go up substantially as thesummer approaches. Next, he looks at the Overdue Invoices total 3230 a.It is up again for the fourth month running. He knows he'll be callingseveral of his members this afternoon to see how the GMA may help.Before that though, he'll run some WAMP 150 water balance models foreach farmer to see how they might conserve on water use. He'll do thatright after his coffee break.

Referring to FIGS. 33A and 33B WAMP 150 displays the Local Weatherdisplay page 3300A/3300B. FIG. 33A shows the Local Weather displaypage's upper portion 3300A (FIG. 33B shows the lower portion 3300B).Referring to FIG. 33A, Wally looks over the weather for the next fewdays. Then he grabs his jacket and heads for the door.

Many modifications and additions to the above embodiments are possible.For example, groundwater imputation factor of Resource Monitor 264 mayalso take into consideration groundwater recharging by the property.

While this invention has been described in terms of several embodiments,there are alterations, modifications, permutations, and substituteequivalents, which fall within the scope of this invention. Althoughsub-section titles have been provided to aid in the description of theinvention, these titles are merely illustrative and are not intended tolimit the scope of the present invention.

It should also be noted that there are many alternative ways ofimplementing the methods and apparatuses of the present invention. It istherefore intended that the following appended claims be interpreted asincluding all such alterations, modifications, permutations, andsubstitute equivalents as fall within the true spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. In a water agency management platform (WAMP), amethod for providing an electronic exchange to administer groundwaterextraction rights market, the method comprising: managing groundwaterand surface-water resources in at least one trading-zone; receiving aplurality of offers to trade an utilization of a groundwater extractionright (GWR), wherein the GWR is associated with the at least one tradingzone; matching at least two of the plurality of offers to trade theutilization of the GWR; and intermediating the transfer of the GWR basedon at least one transfer rule.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thegroundwater resource includes at least one aquifer.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the boundaries of the at least one trading zone isbased on a surface geographical trace of an underlying groundwatersub-basin.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one transferrule disallows any GWR transfer from a specific groundwater extractionzone to a specific destination water consumption zone.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one transfer rule disallows any GWRtransfer from a specific source zone regardless of the destination zone.6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one transfer ruledisallows any GWR transfer to a specific destination zone regardless ofthe source zone.
 7. A water agency management platform (WAMP) forproviding an electronic exchange to administer groundwater extractionrights market, the WAMP configured to: manage groundwater andsurface-water resources in at least one trading-zone; receive aplurality of offers to trade an utilization of a groundwater extractionright (GWR), wherein the GWR is associated with the at least one tradingzone; match at least two of the plurality of offers to trade theutilization of the GWR; and intermediate the transfer of the GWR basedon at least one transfer rule.
 8. The WAMP of claim 7, wherein thegroundwater resource includes at least one aquifer.
 9. The WAMP of claim7, wherein the boundaries of the at least one trading zone is based on asurface geographical trace of an underlying groundwater sub-basin. 10.The WAMP of claim 7, wherein the at least one transfer rule disallowsany GWR transfer from a specific groundwater extraction zone to aspecific destination water consumption zone.
 11. The WAMP of claim 7,wherein the at least one transfer rule disallows any GWR transfer from aspecific source zone regardless of the destination zone.
 12. The WAMP ofclaim 7, wherein the at least one transfer rule disallows any GWRtransfer to a specific destination zone regardless of the source zone.